Kingdom Hearts: Elegy of Darkness
by RedhathackerSin
Summary: Sora, Riku, and Kairi are once again going on an adventure to see the worlds, but what happens when a new threat emerges to hunt the keyblades? i'm still thinking up pairings. fic rate T for convenience.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello all, welcome to my first Kingdom Hearts fanfic _Elegy of Darkness_, now I'm not sure how long this fic is going to be but hopefully for those who read it they will like it! **

**Almost forgot Disclaimer! I do not own any of the kingdom hearts franchise, nor do I own Disney stuff, however my OC's will be showing up later on and I do own them. That is all.**

**P.S. Aha! I bet most of you forgot I existed, well in addition to this revamp of the prologue, I'm also going back to edit all, that's right _all_ my chapters thus far. There won't be any major plot changes, but my grammar is atrocious, and my Creative Writing professor from last semester would probably smack me for my stiff dialogue and being comma happy. **

_**Kingdom Hearts: Elegy of Darkness**_

_Prologue: Lazy Sunday_

A small sea breeze blew through the window to tousle a sleeping sixteen-year-olds chocolate colored spikes. His room was littered with various objects such as a random beach ball, half-finished homework, a wooden ship hanging from the ceiling, not to mention a variety of clothes on the floor. His analog clock read that it was quarter pass 2 when on the sea breeze a faint voice could be heard. The boy grimaced and begrudgingly opened his sea blue eyes to the sound. He let out a jaw-cracking yawn and stretched feeling his back pop as he stood up from his chair, he then decided that a wooden chair wasn't the best of places to be sleeping. He smiled as the sea breeze of Destiny Islands wafted through his room once more, caressing his face with a cool, but light touch. It was nice to just have this peace.

"……..Sora….."

Sora's lips sagged into a frown of concentration as he heard the faint voice coming from the window, "Sora! Get up you lazy bum!"

Sora grinned sheepishly as he bounded over to his window and looked down to see a girl with auburn hair, blue eyes, and dressed simply in her trademark pink blouse and skirt. "Kairi!" Sora waved to one of his best friends in the whole universe. Kairi just rolled her eyes. Sighing she placed her hands on her hips, "Come _on_ you lazy bum! We were s'posed to meet Riku at the island almost ten minutes ago now!"

Sora glanced at his clock to see that Kairi was right and grimaced, he didn't want to have Riku be on his case if he was late. "I'll be down in a minute!"

Sora closed his window and glanced himself over in the mirror. He was wearing his own trademark outfit, one that most worlds would recognize anywhere. Dark long shorts with a belt criss-crossed to hold two side pouches in which he put various things. A dark blue shirt with a dark vest over it adorned his upper body and of course his crown pendant. Sora walked over to his dresser to complete his outfit by picking up a pair of black gloves that had no fingertips and guards for his knuckles. He slipped them on and made a fist with each hand before turning to his mirror and trying to pat his spikes down in vain. Shrugging he opened the door and jogged down the stairs to his front door. He almost collided right into Kairi as he flew out his door, stumbling to land in a heap near Kairi's feet, who was by this time roaring with laughter at his antics. Sora grimaced as he picked himself up, blushing profusely at having made himself look like a dork in front of Kairi. "C'mon Sora. We don't want to keep Riku waiting any longer than he has to."

Kairi took off down the street towards the beach, he auburn hair flying a bit wildly in the wind. Sora sighed before breaking into a grin and deciding not to let it get him down. He rushed after Kairi, who had gotten a nice lead, but Sora easily overtook her and laughed as he got into the boat. "How many times does this mean I've beaten you Kairi?"

Kairi huffed and crossed her arms as she sat down in the boat, content to pout like a three year old and let Sora do the rowing. Sora's grin just breaks into a bigger smile, Kairi was too cute when she pouted. Sora blinked, _Wait I just thought of Kairi as cute! Oh no, oh no, oh no! I think she might be able to read minds!_

While Sora was having his little panic attack about Kairi being able to read minds. The red head in question having decided to forgive Sora, was now letting her hand drift through the ocean and watched the ripples it created as the soothing rocking of the boat made her eyes droop. "Um, sorry?"

Kairi's jumped slightly at the sound of Sora's voice breaking the silence, and looked at her friend questioningly, only growing more concerned when it seemed that he seemed to be having a slight panic attack, "For what?"

Sora looked uncomfortable for a moment, "For, uh, rubbing in it your face that I beat you? Yeah that's it! For rubbing it in your face I beat you!"

Sora's expression was priceless, trying not to look like a kid who was caught doing something bad, that Kairi couldn't help but let a small giggle out, "I already forgave for that silly."

Sora seemed to deflate for a moment in relief, but perked up with a bright smile nearly as fast as his deflation. Kairi loved it when Sora smiled, it always made things seem right with the world, as if all her troubles were blown away by it. "That's great."

Sora continued to row and eventually they ended up at the play island. A playful voice called out to them, "You're late."

The voice belonged to their silver haired, green-eyed friend, Riku. "What took you so long?" he asked inquisitively with an arched eyebrow toward Sora.

Kairi walked up to Riku and rolled her eyes as she jerked her thumb in Sora's direction, "Blame this lazy bum."

Riku watched Sora beach the boat so it wouldn't float away. "Leave it to him to be lazy at a time like this."

"Hey, I was _tired_, and the sea breeze didn't help either," Sora exclaimed in his defense as he walked up to his two friends, having completed his arduous task of beaching the boat.

Riku decided to let it go with a roll of the eyes, "Whatever, we need to take off soon anyway, there's no time to argue."

Sora brightened at Riku's words, "It's been so long since I've seen everyone, I wonder how they're doing?"

Riku shrugged as he walked towards their Gummi ship _Highwind II_. Seeing as _Highwind_ was taken back by the king, they had needed a new name for their ship. Naturally they couldn't decide on a name so Riku and Sora had a race, Sora won.

Only a few months after they had returned home the trio had gotten a message in a bottle from the king telling them to relax for a year, and that once a year's time had passed they could return to traveling the worlds, as peacekeepers of sorts. Although Sora had thoroughly enjoyed his time home, he admitted to himself that he was getting a little bored. Sora intertwined his fingers behind his head and cocked his head to the side watching Riku's retreating form, silver hair moving gently behind him in the sea breeze. "Ready to go on another adventure?" Kairi asked from his shoulder. She had snuck up near his elbow while he was busy thinking about his other friends.

Sora let his goofy smile do the talking, "I can't wait, especially to see Donald and Goofy again!"

Kairi nodded, although she had only met those two for a short time, she felt as though that they were all great friends, "I can't wait to see them too."

"Hhhhheeeeeyyyy!" Riku was calling to them as he waved, "Let's get a move on you two! And you're as much a lazy bum as he is Kairi!"

Kairi laughed as she waved back to Riku and shouted, "Guilty as charged!"

Kairi glanced over to the chuckling Sora. Grinning she exclaimed, "Race ya to the ship!" and took off.

Sora followed behind her smiling. He was starting a new adventure, and this time he had his two best friends with him for it.

**A/N: Well folks this is my fist attempt at making a Kingdom Hearts fanfic, the prologue might be a little slow for you adventure people but trust me, when I do get to the action it will be descriptive, I'm good with action. Now then, reviews are appreciated, and you know what if you flame I don't care! At least you took the time to look at the story. However **_**constructive **_**criticism is greatly appreciated. RedhathackerSin out!**


	2. Darkness Rising

**Disclaimer: I only own my OC's, who appear in this chapter yay!**

_Chapter 1: Darkness Rising_

Riku's eye twitched after the umpteenth time Sora muttered, "Are we there _yet_?"

Riku liked his friend, and would do just about anything for him, but this was pushing it. So it wasn't that much of a surprise when he growled out an exasperated, "_No._"

Sora sighed as he fell back into the confines of his chair and looked over at Kairi's sleeping face. He smiled as he took in her soft features while sleeping. Well at least it wasn't all that bad. Even if the trip was now pushing five hours.

The King had neglected to put a Hyperdrive in their Gummi, meaning the three teens were forced to sit through a grueling six-hour ride with nothing to do. Kairi had gone out like a light in the first hour. Sora had a suspicion that she had been up all night worrying about whether or not Riku and Sora would actually take her with them this time.

Sora realized with a jolt that he had been staring at Kairi's sleeping face for too long and swung back towards Riku only to have his friend looking at _him_ with a knowing smirk. "You should just tell her how you feel."

That was Riku, the all knowing God of Love. Sora rolled his eyes at his best male friend, "It's not that easy."

Riku raised an eyebrow that disappeared behind his bangs, "Whoever said anything about it being _easy_? I just said you should tell her."

Sora stole another glance at his Princess's sleeping face before letting out a sigh, "What if she doesn't feel the same way."

Riku just stared at Sora as though he were growing another head, "Okay. You've saved all the worlds, _twice_. One of those times was for her sake. You've known each other since we were little kids. And I seem to recall there was a little addition to that drawing of yours in the cave."

Riku had been ticking off each point with a finger and Sora felt his ears burn hotter after each point Riku made, "But I just…"

Riku waited expectantly for Sora to finish.

"…don't know how to tell her," he finished lamely. "I mean, how do you go about telling someone you've known for most of your life that you have well, _romantic_ feelings for them?"

Riku sighed as he pinched between his nose with his thumb and forefinger. Dealing with Sora's love life was just…

"How about, _I love you_?"

Sora gaped at Riku for a moment like he was the one with the other head now, "Well I didn't know you felt that way Riku, but I'm in love with Kairi and…"

Riku cut Sora off before he made more of a fool out of himself, "No, dufus, I mean say those three words to Kairi."

The effect those words had on Sora were to Riku's liking. Sora immediately clamped his mouth shut as if Riku's words had actually hit him. "Just like that?" Sora asked with a higher voice.

Riku sighed in exasperation at Sora's utter disbelieving expression. He looked his friend directly in the eye and said, "Yes, just like that."

Sora contemplated this for a moment before shrugging and flashing his best friend a smile, "I guess that would work, but I don't think I'm ready to do so quite yet."

Riku sighed again as they continued their journey in silence.

"Riku?"

"What?"

"Are we there yet?"

* * *

Sora grinned as he saw Radiant Garden come into view through the Gummi view port. After bugging Riku for so long his friend had finally snapped and threatened that if he asked "Are we there yet?" one more time, he would tell Kairi Sora's feelings, and then proceed to tell the entire universe. Needles to say Sora didn't ask again. Sora stole a glance to his right to see Kairi's blue eyes sparkling with excitement as she looked at Radiant Garden. He also thought he detected a hint of longing. "So this is where I was born?" she muttered quietly to herself.

Sora flashed Kairi a smile. He whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, I'm sure among the common populace no one knows you're a Princess, so you should blend right in."

Kairi smiled at Sora's little pep talk. A man's face appeared via live video feed, he had long brown hair, light brown eyes, and a nasty looking scar that started near the top of his left forehead and ran all the way to near the bottom of his left eye. The way he was being shot showcased a bit of white fur ringing his clavicle area. Sora smiled upon seeing him. "Leon!" he exclaimed in delight.

Leon nodded in Sora's direction. "Nice to see you again. Can you leave the ship and come worldside? There are a lot of people who are dying to see you."

Sora grinned at the look of exasperation on Leon's face, "Let me guess, Yuffie?"

From the background Sora saw a lithe girl jumping up and down like a kid with a sugar high and heard an upbeat voice exclaim, "That's the _Great Ninja_ Yuffie!"

Leon flinched and pinched his nose in a Riku-like manner, before letting a jet of air escape his lips. "Just come on down, Donald and Goofy are here also, they just arrive a few minutes before you did."

And with that Leon cut the transmission. Sora smiled as he turned to his friends, "Well let's go say hi to everyone."

* * *

Sora was shocked, no shocked was too mild a word. He was _speechless._ All around him was a bustling metropolis, not the ragtag town he had left behind when he went to confront Organization XIII. The Restoration had done well, _very _well. He stopped gaping long enough to notice a woman dressed in pink, with long braided brown hair down to her lower back and teal eyes walking towards them. "Aerith!" he shouted happily as he waved at her.

Aerith smiled when she noticed Sora jumping up and down waving his hand in the air frantically trying to get her attention. She rolled her eyes and let a soft smile grace her lips as she strode up to the trio of friends. In a soft voice she greeted the trio, "It's good to see you again Sora, Kairi, and… Riku?"

Riku nodded uncomfortably as Aerith's teal orbs seemed as if they were gazing into his very soul, stripping him all the way to the fact that he gave into Darkness, and it was still there. Finally Aerith's gaze broke from Riku's and her stern expression relaxed into a welcoming one, "It really is good to see you two again, and a pleasure to meet you Riku. Come with me."

And with a swish of her braided hair she about-faced, obviously expecting the trio to follow her. Riku arched an eyebrow at his two friends before shrugging and following after her. Kairi looked to Sora who made a face at her causing her to giggle. Rolling her eyes she said, "Come on lazy bum," and pulled Sora by the arm after Aerith and Riku.

* * *

Riku was uncomfortable. Scratch that, he was _really _uncomfortable. Mostly because of all the stares he was on the receiving end of. This could be because it seemed like _everyone_, with the exception of Sora and Kairi, were staring at him. Along with Aerith and Leon, there was also a girl a little older than himself leaning against a wall a giant shuriken on her back, he noticed this was the girl from the video of Leon welcoming them. Another man with vivid blonde hair was reclining in a computer chair, while yet another man, this one by far the most intimidating so far as he was gigantic and rippling with muscles. Not to mention the piece of metal he called a hand.

"So you're Riku?" a voice inquired. Riku flinched as a wizard with a long white beard and in blue robes appeared in a puff of sparkling smoke. His blue eyes seemed to twinkle with merriment as he examined Riku. Great, another person to stare at him.

"And you are?" Riku asked in the same tone of voice.

The wizard took no notice of Riku's sarcastic tone as his blue eyes flicked up and down, examining Riku. "I daresay you still have a hint of Darkness about you…" he began

Everyone who was staring at Riku immediately tensed. The old wizard eyes crinkled into a smile, "…but it isn't threatening at all."

Riku noticed out of the corner of his eye the others visibly relax, and sighed as he crossed his arms and looked exasperatedly at the ceiling, he hated that he had gone to the darkness. And he hated the fact he hated it. He then noticed that the old man was speaking to him again. "Oh where are my manners, my name is Merlin, and these are…"

At this point the others took it upon themselves to introduce themselves. "Yuffie," shuriken girl. "Barrett," muscle man. "Cid," computer chair guy.

Riku nodded to everyone in the room in greeting as Sora switched to introductory mode, "Guys, this is Riku and Kairi."

Riku had already nodded and Kairi managed to squeak a "Hi."

Sora beamed at his friends, "I'm really happy I found them."

Now that everyone was acquainted most of the Restoration Committee dispersed to do… whatever it is they do. Aerith and Yuffie stayed behind as Cid turned back to his chair, Leon walked out the door with Barrett, and Merlin stomped upstairs. Yuffie gazed at Kairi, a sly look in her eye. "So you're Sora's girlfriend?" she asked none too subtly.

Kairi's ears burned red at this question, while Sora coughed uncomfortably. When Kairi realized that Yuffie wasn't going to take silence for an answer, she managed to stutter out, "N-n-no, I-I-I'm just his…"

Yuffie waited expectantly with her eyebrows raised.

"…friend." Kairi finished a little anti-climatically and with a shrug of her shoulders.

Yuffie's expression darkened for a moment before brightening with a knowing smile, "Well there's still plenty of time for him to confess to you."

Kairi face turned a deeper red while Sora coughed again uncomfortably. Riku watched this exchange with a smirk, when were his friends going to learn that they absolutely _adored _each other.

Riku shook his head and looked away straight into teal eyes that were scrutinizing him. Riku shivered as those eyes met his. Aerith walked up to Riku and placed a comforting hand on Riku's shoulder before whispering in his ear soothingly, "You don't have to fear the Darkness. Everyone has it, even Sora."

Riku's eyes widened at Aerith's statement, but she just continued past him and out the door. Riku noticed that Kairi and Sora were both by his side, Sora in his trademark fingers locked behind his head pose and Kairi with her arms folded across her stomach. Riku sighed again, he liked sighing, "So where to?"

"Well…" Sora barely got this word out when the door to Merlin's house burst open and something white streaked in and slammed into Sora knocking him down in the process. Suddenly a dog _thingy_ appeared in the doorway and upon seeing Sora jumped into the fray.

Donald and Goofy had found Sora.

Sora laughed as the three became tangled on the floor, even Kairi and Riku were laughing at how ridiculous the trio on the ground looked. Finally the three on the ground got up and untangled themselves. Beaming at his other two best friends he said, "Guys it's great to see you again! How ya been?"

"Well gawrsh Sora, it's been intrestin' bein' in peace. Never thought I'd get to see my Maxie again sometimes," Goofy said with a smile.

Sora raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

Goofy hyucked before pulling out a wallet that contained a bunch of pictures of a younger looking dog thingy, and saying, "Yerp, my son."

Goofy beamed at the look of shock on Sora, Riku, and Kairi's faces, only Donald seemed unaffected and was impatiently tapping his foot with his arms crossed. Riku was the first to recover, "You-you're…"

Riku cleared his throat and finally exclaimed, " You're a father!"

Goofy blushed for a moment rubbing the back of his neck before saying in an embarrassed voice, "Aw gawrsh, don't tell me I never told ya?"

Kairi slowly shook her head while Sora remained in a state of shock. "Wait, you're a _father_?" he voiced incredulously

Donald played crowd control. For once his scraggly voice was welcome to the ears, "Sheesh Sora, we were kinda busy defeating Heartless to really talk about stuff like that."

Sora nodded scratching his head in embarrassment, "I know, I'm just…_surprised_."

The five friends decided that they had had enough of Merlin's house and went out through the door, it was still mind boggling to Sora to see the metropolis that awaited them. "Well at least we saved this world right," he whispered contentedly.

No sooner had he said this, _Kingdom Key_ appeared in his hand in a flash of light. Sora's face drooped into a frown of disbelief, which was fairly difficult to do, "Oh come on!"

Suddenly Yuffie leaped out of the sky and landed near Sora and the gang. "Sora, Heartless are trying to overrun Radiant Garden, _again_!" she said.

Sora could almost feel the exasperation that Yuffie was exuding before she jumped away towards the Bailey, mumbling under his breath, "Not back for one hour and already Heartless show up," Sora began to run in the direction Yuffie jumped, with Kairi and Riku close on his heels. Donald and Goofy close behind them.

Sora easily swatted a Shadow out of his way, those wouldn't hurt at all, suddenly an Armored Knight appeared and Sora was barely able to pull of a cyclone kick sending it to its doom. It seemed all Kairi and Riku were there for was to watch Sora dispose of the Heartless. The two realized that Donald and Goofy had jumped past them and were getting their fair share of Heartless. Not to be outdone, the two friends joined the frenzy, but it seemed a futile battle, for every Heartless they destroyed, three more popped up in its place.

Hook bats began to appear and Riku jumped up to grab one. He began swinging it around with a vengeance destroying Shadows along the way. The friends slowly became separated from one another as they tried to beat back the countless Heartless. Sora defeated another Heartless and suddenly began to panic as he had lost sight of Kairi. "So you are the Keyblade Master?" a cold voice asked.

Sora spun around to see someone standing on the edge of the cliffs that surrounded the ravine. The man looked strange in his black combat boots and jeans, a black tank top and a long black overcoat. In fact Sora might have thought he was with Organization XIII, but the attire was slightly different, not to mention he didn't have a hood covering his face, so Sora was able to see messy jet black hair, steely gray eyes, and an interesting earring that slightly resembled a fang fused with a purple jewel. Sora raised an eyebrow before asking, "Who are you?"

The man casually flipped over Sora, revealing to Sora a strange symbol on his back, it looked as though it was a yin and yang sign with two angel wings crossed over it, one light, one dark. The man landed near Sora and all the Heartless in the vicinity stopped attacking. "I am the one controlling the Heartless obviously," he stated calmly.

Sora jumped away from the too close man and slipped into his trademark-fighting pose. "Well I'll just have to stop you then!" he shouted defiantly.

Sora blinked, he _blinked_, and the man was in front of him. "Too slow," the man said.

Sora didn't have time to do anything as a swift elbow strike made him fly into the walls of the ravine. He crumpled to the ground momentarily stunned. "My name is Cretos, I am the Angel of Shadow of the Crimson 7. Anymore questions?" the mysterious man said.

Sora groggily got to his feet and responded with, "Yeah, who are the Crimson 7?"

Cretos sighed. He didn't really like explaining things to half-wits, which is what Sora was to him, "The Crimson 7 are the 7 elite assassins of the Crimson Angels, a powerful organization from my world, we take super human powers into our bodies, and are given codenames based on these powers. Angel of Shadow or Shadow Angel, either one works for me. And that's all I'll tell you for now."

Suddenly the shadows by Cretos' feet shot towards Sora who was barely able to knock them away. Cretos was once again right in front of him. _Jeez this guy is fast!_

Cretos aimed for a kick this time, but Sora was able to block with his keyblade, _barely_. The kick still sent tremors up his arm. There was nothing Sora could do when Cretos used his momentum from the kick to hook his foot around Sora's keyblade and effectively disarm him. Sora was about to summon it back when he was all of a sudden looking down a very sharp shadow that looked like a sword, Sora mentally shrugged, _Might as well call it a shadow sword_.

Cretos slowly straightened himself from his combat stance. "You're not bad, you're lacking in tactics and speed, but those can be learned. However, first I'm going to have you pass a test," he said in a commanding tone.

Sora's eyes widened in disbelief, he didn't want to do what this guy said, but he was in a tight spot. "A…test?" he managed to ask.

Although the Organization had let him go on occasion, it had never really been like this. He asked, "What test?"

Cretos grinned, the only expression he had given so far. "If you can eventually reach my world, I'm curious to see what would happen if we gave _you_ Angel powers. There you'll take the true test, but first, you must survive this world," he answered.

And with a snap of his fingers Heartless once more surrounded Sora. "Goodbye Keybearer, until we meet again. Oh and by the way, the 7 always travel in two except for our leader, my partner is here somewhere and she lacks the certain _finesse_ that I have for battle, but make no mistake, she'll kill you if she gets the chance."

Sora stood dumbfounded, whether it was because Cretos had a partner, or because he had someone stronger that he answered to Sora couldn't tell. _Of course, there's always someone stronger_.

Sora was suddenly aware that he was surrounded by Heartless, sighing he cracked a potion over his head to heal the minor injuries he had sustained from fighting Cretos. With mouth set in grim determination he began defeating Heartless one after the other, searching for someone he could share his news with.

* * *

While Sora was having his bout with Cretos, Riku was having his own problems dealing with the Shadows that had seemed to multiply every time he cut one down. When he came to the Bailey, a mad cackling greeted his ears. Riku looked up to see a young woman, possibly a couple of years older than him gleefully watching his predicament. The woman was slim and dressed in black combat boots, black cargo pants, and a black tank top. To top if off she was wearing a black over coat that bristled in the slight breeze that had picked up with two handguns poking out on her thighs.

Like Sora Riku felt a sense of dejá vu as he scrutinized the woman, but rejected her as an Organization XIII member simply because he could see her face at the get go. The face had sharp angular features, her hair was a midnight black, and her eyes were surprisingly a vivid green. It didn't really match her character. Riku scowled as he held _Way to Dawn_ in a fighting pose. The woman smirked as she called out, "Oh so you are willing to take on Kaoru, the Fallen Angel?"

Riku's scowl didn't leave his face. All he did was raise his palm and flipped his fingers towards him a couple of times as if to say, _bring it_.

And so Kaoru did, Riku didn't even know what happened, he was suddenly pinned to the ground by Kaoru's right knee, staring down the barrel of a handgun. _Damn, she's fast._

He demeanor changed suddenly. She sighed as she stood up slowly. "It looks like I have to retreat, but don't worry, I'll come back to kill you eventually!" she said with a grin.

Suddenly she vanished. No portal of darkness, no magic, no light, just _gone_. Riku blinked, this was going to be a hassle wasn't it.

* * *

Sora was frantically looking for Kairi through the crowds of Heartless. They just didn't seem to stop coming. When he finally saw Kairi, she was surrounded by Shadows with a keyblade in hand. He shouted fearfully, "Kairi!"

Sora sprinted towards her position and dispatched the Shadows that were flanking her. Kairi nodded her thanks as she dispatched the remaining Shadows in front. Sora's smile fell from his face as he saw thousands of Heartless advancing upon them. He glanced behind himself and said urgently, "Kairi get out of here!"

"No!" Sora turned to see Kairi defiantly striking a battle pose towards the Heartless. "This time we do it _together_," she said emphatically.

Sora felt a plethora of emotions roll over him, anger, fear, respect, and...and…love. He couldn't let Kairi get hurt, he truly, _truly_ loved her. "No Princess, I have to break that promise," he said with sorrow in his voice.

Kairi looked at him quizzically, "What do you mean?"

Sora made a snap decision then and there, he stepped close to Kairi and pulled her into a hug before crashing his lips onto hers. Kairi's eyes widened for a moment then fell half-lidded as she enjoyed the feel of Sora's lips on hers. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but to both of them it felt like an eternity. Kairi became aware again and saw Sora's goofy grin, but did she detect a hint of sorrow in his eyes? "I love you," he said softly.

Those three words sent shivers up and down Kairi's spine and suddenly she was flying through the air backward and felt as though she'd been kicked in the stomach, which she realized she had. Sora had kicked her! Just as she got up to go back to him a magical barrier was erected.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted with fear. She turned to the sound of Donald and Goofy running towards her and the barrier, she also saw Riku jump down from a platform, but none of them could eradicate the barrier.

Sora turned to regard his friends with a sad smile, a smile which Donald and Goofy recognized, it was the smile he gave right before he plunged the keyblade into his heart to release Kairi's. "It's been fun guys, take care of Kairi," he said with his sad smile.

Sora turned towards the horde of Heartless that was now advancing towards him. Kairi felt tears begin to stream down her face as she watched Sora helplessly, it wasn't _fair_. She had just found out he loved her! She took a deep breath and yelled at the top of her lungs, "SORA!"

Sora looked back one last time and Kairi shouted, "I LOVE YOU TOO!"

Sora appeared stunned for a moment before a grin crept across his face, he then turned back to the Heartless. "I'll come back Kairi," he almost whispered to himself, but Kairi could hear him.

Kairi smiled at the similarity this conversation was taking to two years ago when he first left to find Riku before nodding. "I know you will!" she yelled with certainty.

And with that Sora sprinted down toward the Heartless horde, Kairi had never seen Sora move the way he did as he took down not one Heartless, but _five _at a time, but no matter how good he was, there were just too many. Riku took her hand and began to lead her away, "Come on we have to fall back."

Kairi reluctantly let Riku pull her along she noticed that he grasped her hand tightly in frustration at not being able to do anything about his best friend, but her eyes still on Sora. A Big Body suddenly appeared to smack Sora into the center of dozens of Heartless. Kairi felt even more amazement when Sora began wielding not one, but _two _keyblades. But it _still _wasn't enough, she caught a glimpse of him barely avoiding a fire spell before they rounded a corner and she couldn't see him anymore.

* * *

Kairi was in shock that was all that could be said. Sora, _her _Sora, had eventually been overrun by the Heartless. As soon as they had done so the Heartless had completely disappeared from Radiant Garden, but at what _cost_. She was bitter, and she knew it. She also didn't care. Donald and Goofy were silently hugging each other and crying in a corner, while Riku leaned against a wall eyes closed. The other Committee members were equally as shocked. Sora was _gone_.

Suddenly Riku's eyes shot open, and he _smiled_. Kairi was not a very violent person, but right then she had the greatest urge to _slap_ Riku with all her might, how dare he smile when.…

"Kairi." Riku mentioning her name subdued her urge to slap him, "Sora isn't gone, he's just been split in two," Riku rolled his eyes, "_again_."

Kairi gaped at her friend in incomprehension. "What are you talking about?" she asked exasperatedly.

Riku sighed as he explained himself, "I mean this has happened bore right, so maybe Sora split, and if we can find _him_ we'll have a solution to our problem."

Kairi was beginning to feel unbelievably irritated with her other best friend. "Find _who_?" she nearly screamed.

Riku smirked.

"_Roxas_."

**A/N: Man it's been awhile since I proofread this and going over it line by line is a bit time consuming, but ultimately it is worth it. Although the plot hasn't really changed too much, for those of you that have read it before you'll notice little snippets that are different here and there. My main focus right now is correcting grammar and shaking out the writer's block that has been holding me in check for a few months. I've been busy with learning Japanese and had no time for this, but a Creative Writing class greatly helped my writing, and I think it shines through. I'm currently working on the next chapter and intend to have it done by the end of this week. So for all of you who've stuck with me so far, just wait a little longer, I promise to have new chapters coming out more periodically as my schedule is about to get much less busy. And to those of you just joining at least you didn't have to wait so long for a new chapter. Please Review.**


	3. How To Tame A Beast

**A/N:**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor anything owned by Disney, I do have a few OC's, but they don't appear in this chapter, only a quick reference.

_Chapter 2: How to tame a Beast_

Riku was currently piloting the _Highwind II _with the seventh Princess of Heart sleeping next to him. He let her sleep because one: he liked the sound of silence and two: she had had a rough week. Riku had thought finding Roxas would be easy. He was dead had already been to a variety of worlds including Twilight Town, Halloween Town, and Neverland, but there had been no sign of Roxas anywhere and the worlds themselves had been peaceful, no Heartless to bother them. Riku did what he did best, sighed.

Gradually Kairi opened her eyes and stretched, trying, and failing, to stifle a ferocious yawn. "Where are we Riku?" she asked a bit drowsily.

Riku fiddled with a switch near the controls of the gummi before answering, "It looks like we're coming up on Beast's Castle."

At the end of this sentence Riku's voice rose slightly in pitch and Kairi stared at him. She felt a coy grin creeping across her face as she asked, "Is something the matter?"

Riku nervously swallowed as he looked out the gummi view port. "Let's just say the last time me and him met, we weren't…on the best of terms," he answered ominously.

Kairi cocked an eyebrow at Riku while asking, "What do you mean you weren't on the best of terms?"

Riku flinched slightly at Kairi's question, but answered, "I mean I last met him when I had steeped myself in Darkness, and captured a Princess of Heart. Which happened to be his particular Princess. And I have a feeling that if he recognizes me things may get ugly."

Kairi glanced at her friend for a moment before looking out the gummi view port at the rapidly approaching world. "Do you want me to go alone?" she asked tentatively.

Riku raised his eyebrows in surprise at Kairi's comment. "What and have Sora kill me when he comes back, not a chance," he answered smugly with a smirk.

Riku looked at the world and felt his smirk disintegrate, this was going to be a long day.

* * *

Riku felt uncomfortable as he made his way through the sleepy village that was just a few miles away from Beast's Castle. He sighed again, which Kairi noticed. "That's the thirteenth time you've sighed since we got here," she commented, "if you really don't want to be here then go back to the ship."

Riku winced. Kairi had actually been keeping _count_? Was he really becoming so predictable? Well time to break that. Riku's mouth curved into a smile, even showing the whites of his teeth, it was a smile that could make most women nearly faint, "Don't worry about it Kairi."

Kairi was startled for a moment at her friend's smile, before her expression darkened, "You can't fool me, that smile's fake isn't it?"

Damn, Kairi was better in tune to emotions then he had thought. Shrugging Riku dropped the smile and scowled. "Is this preferable?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.

This time it was Kairi's turn to sigh and roll her eyes. "It doesn't matter, I just don't want you to be uncomfortable," she explained.

Riku pinched his nose in thought. "Like I said, I'd rather not have Sora kill me for not protecting you if something goes wrong," he replied.

Kairi looked at him quizzically before asking, "What could go wrong."

The minute Kairi heard those words leave her mouth she regretted them because a few Shadow Heartless materialized on the road in front of them. The Heartless didn't have a chance as Riku summoned _Way to Dawn_ and dispatched them with a deft flick of his wrist. Riku let his keyblade disappear in a flash of light before looking at Kairi with a look that clearly said, _See_?

Kairi sighed as she admitted to herself that she was not here for an afternoon stroll through a quiet village and nodded to Riku. "Point taken," she said.

Ten Heartless sprang up and surrounded Riku and Kairi: three Neoshadows, four Lancer Soldiers, and three Hook Bats. Riku sighed. "The day just keeps getting better and better," he said with sarcasm dripping in his voice.

Riku summoned _Way to Dawn_ once more and charged a Neoshadow, deftly taking it out with a spinning slash. Using his left hand he summoned a bit of the Darkness inside of him and sent a wave of Dark aura towards the sky bound Hook Bats.

Kairi summoned her own keyblade and was trying to hold off a Neoshadow when a Lance Soldier appeared and charged at her through the air. Not knowing what to do she barely dodged the Heartless and got a hold of its lance's handle. She was then taken along for the ride.

Riku watched in amusement as Kairi screamed while the Lance Soldier blew through his fellow Soldiers with Kairi in tow. Riku just shook his head and dispatched the last Neoshadow before running to a near Lance Soldier. Riku took it out with a slash to its stomach and then a thrust into its head. He suddenly heard the crash of metal meeting ground and looked around to see Kairi shakily getting to her feet, two Lance Soldiers defeated beside her.

Riku grinned and quirked an eyebrow as the Lances faded into Darkness. "Maybe you don't need my help after all," he said humorously.

Kairi just shook her head to try to stop the world from spinning. "I think I might after all, I do _not_ want to do that again," she ground.

Riku's grin never left his face as he chuckled at Kairi's predicament. "But it's the best way to dispose of those particular Heartless," he said matter-of-factly.

Kairi frowned at Riku's comment. "Well at least you're in a better mood, next time I hope I don't have to cheer you up by riding an out of control Heartless," she mumbled dejectedly.

Riku chuckled again at Kairi's comment before becoming solemn once more and looking in the distance. "All fun and games aside, we have a few miles to walk before we reach Beast's actual castle, so let's get a move on," he said as he began walking up the path once more.

* * *

Riku was seething. After they had dispatched that first wave of Heartless more seemed to pop up every forty yards or so. Eventually he had to shout at Kairi, "Just leave them, I'm low on potions and magic!"

Kairi was happy to oblige, as she was beginning to feel the fatigue of fighting continuos battles. She would never understand how Sora and Riku were able to do it. Panting Kairi leaned against a tree bent over trying to be able to collect oxygen once again. Riku casually strode up to the princess having caught his breath a long time ago. "You seem tired," he stated with a smirk.

Kairi took in a large gulp of air before replying, "I don't know how you two do it. You seem almost perfectly fine!"

Riku flashed Kairi a genuine smile, which was rare for him. "Practice," he answered.

With that Riku rummaged around in his pocket and brought out an ether, cracking it over Kairi's head. Kairi immediately felt her fatigue begin to fade away. Straightening herself she rotated her arm, loosening the tight muscles. "Thanks," she said with gratitude.

Riku nodded his acknowledgement of Kairi's thanks, "Anytime. We're almost at Beast's castle, but I have a feeling more Heartless are going to be in the way. Wait here while I go find some potions and we'll let you get some experience after I get back."

Kairi let out a small groan, she knew that what Riku said was intended to benefit her for when it came to battling a large amount of Heartless, but now that her adrenaline was subsiding she was already beginning to feel sore despite the ether Riku had given her.

Riku shook his head in a playful manner his silvery bangs falling across his face. "Maybe _you _should have stayed on the ship," he teased.

Kairi shook her head vehemently and with an expression that Riku thought was strong determination. "I'm _not_ being left behind _again_," she said vehemently.

Riku shrugged and said, "Then you shouldn't complain about gaining some experience battling Heartless, all of us started out this way."

Kairi stared at Riku for a moment before stating, "I thought Sora started out with almost no one to help him fight the Heartless."

Riku winced, although she had probably done it unintentionally, mentioning Sora's first adventure had him remembering his own when he had turned to the Darkness. Kairi seemed to realize what she had said after Riku's wince and blushed in an apologetic way. "Oh Riku, I'm sorry," she apologized.

Riku shook his head in his own form of apology. "It's me who should be sorry, I was weak enough to give in to the Darkness," he said.

Riku then turned and walked away to look for potions.

* * *

Kairi gratefully sank to the ground her back against the tree while Riku was away. Although she would never admit it openly she felt as though she were a bit of a nuisance to Riku at the moment. Sighing she hugged her knees to her chest, why couldn't she have great abilities like Sora? Even Donald and Goofy, from what she saw in the battle at Radiant Garden, were better at this than she was. She briefly remembered their last encounter with the duck and dog, erm thingy.

_Donald was shaking Riku's hand as Goofy pulled her into a hug, Kairi's eyes widened for a second before returning his hug. When the two separated she asked, "What was that for?"_

_Goofy hyucked before answering, "Gawrsh Kairi, everybody needs a hug now and then ta cheer 'em up!"_

_Upon hearing this Donald turned to his counter part in battle, "Of coursh, remember gummi ships run on smilin' faces!"_

_After this statement Donald and Goofy both made a ridiculous face. Kairi couldn't help it she started giggling at first, then was trying to hold in the laughter by draping her right arm across her stomach and placing her left hand against her mouth. Eventually she gave in and burst out laughing. Donald and Goofy reverted to their normal faces, "We knew that woulda cheered ya up! Sora was in the same state when we first found him, hyuck!"_

_Goofy and Donald waved their good-byes as they got onto their own gummi ship. Donald looked at Riku and said, "We're going to go tur the King and see what he can find out about Sora, maybe we'll meet up again later."_

Kairi gradually came out of her reverie and was horrified to find that she had been dozing off. Light that had been filtering through the trees was now a deep orange, the tell tale sign that dusk was upon this world.

Just then Riku walked back into the clearing. "Okay, I've got enough potions to last for a few hours. Couldn't really find any, so I had to go all the way back into town to buy some," he said.

Kairi blushed in embarrassment at the fact that Riku had had to waste munny for her benefit. "You didn't have to do that," she gently scolded.

Riku just gave her a look that clearly said, _Yes, I did_.

Kairi sighed in defeat as she got up, "So which direction is Beast's castle in?"

* * *

Kairi was exhausted by the time they came upon the castle gates. There were just so _many _Heartless. She had barely been able to take out a cluster of Lance Soldiers by once again grabbing onto one. Riku was right it was easier the second time around and more effective.

Riku had had to step in on the last fight to keep her from loosing to two Big Bodies and four Lance Soldiers. She had been able to deal with the Big Bodies while he decimated the Lances.

As the two of them approached the dank gray gates Kairi realized that out here in the forest it was dark, _very_ dark. Riku smirked as he observed the look on Kairi's face. "Don't worry, Beast is actually very nice, to people who don't steal his princess anyway," he whispered.

Kairi just glared at Riku as he stepped up to the gates and strode inside the courtyard. Kairi shivered before following him. The courtyard wasn't much different to the gates in her opinion, dark, dreary, and leading up to ridiculously large imposing double doors.

Riku gently pushed a smaller door within the larger double doors. It creaked open slowly, echoing throughout the entrance hall that awaited them on the other side. Riku shrugged as he bowed to Kairi and said, "After you my princess," with a small flair from his arm. Kairi rolled her eyes as she stepped into the dark hall.

When her eyes finally adjusted to the dark she let out a small gasp. The hall inside was _huge_, she couldn't even see the ceiling, and it just seemed to disappear at a certain point. A burgundy carpet was also laid on top of a stone floor with pillars on either side in a row, like knights welcoming a king home.

"Impressive isn't it?" Kairi jumped a little and spun around to see Riku gazing around the gigantic hall, a look of indifference on his face.

Kairi let her heart rate settle down before nodding in assent and responding, "Yeah, I didn't think the place would be this big."

Riku shook his head as he started for the staircase that was at the other end of the hall, but stopped when he looked to the side and noticed that one of the pillars were missing. Riku placed his hand on his chin in contemplation as he looked across the carpet to see that another pillar was in fact there.

Kairi caught up with Riku as he contemplated whatever it was he was contemplating, "What's wro-" she began.

She never got a chance to finish as a ferocious roar echoed throughout the castle and a door at the top of the stairs burst open, and out jumped the Beast. Kairi had heard stories of the Beast, but she had never really _seen_ him. What she saw scared her. He was a large, imposing figure, with muscles bulging under his thick, coarse, brown fur. He was wearing a white ruffled shirt and black ripped pans. The long purple cloak that swished out after him completed his attire. Not to mention his long teeth that looked as though they could easily rip flesh and bone.

For a moment no one moved. Then Beast looked a Riku, and a spark of recognition developed in his eyes.

"You," he whispered so softly that the other two could only hear his voice due to the echo of the giant hall.

Kairi couldn't follow what happened next. One moment the Beast was standing there, the next he was rocketing towards Riku. Riku barely had enough time to call _Way to Dawn _to his hand, before the Beast pinned him to a pillar. Riku's keyblade disappearing in a flash of light. Kairi gaped; it was all she could do for a moment, before she began running towards the Beast. Voice cracking she screamed, "_Stop!_"

The Beast looked at her and she saw a glimmer of surprise in his eyes, mixed within anger and self-loathing. Snarling the Beast turned once more to Riku. "Do you have any idea what he's _done_?" he growled out threateningly.

Kairi looked from Riku to Beast, before nodding slightly. She managed to say in a small-terrified voice, "Yes. Yes I do. I was there when he had gathered together all the Princesses' of Heart."

Beast expression softened as he gazed at Kairi. "Ah so you were Sora's princess? At least he was able to find you, but…" he said in a calmer almost gentle voice.

His gaze turned back to Riku and a snarl threatened to escape from his lips once more when he continued, "I can not forgive this _whelp_. Not only did he steal Belle, but this time he has stolen my precious Rose."

At this accusation Riku wore a look of alarm as he asked, "Rose? What Rose?"

Beast simply pressed harder, making it difficult for Riku to breathe. "Do not act like you don't know!" Beast exclaimed.

Kairi couldn't take it anymore, she rushed over to Beast. Tugging on his arm she began trying to cajole him into letting Riku go, "Please Mister Beast, sir, Riku and I have just arrived here, we don't know anything about a rose!"

Beast glanced at Kairi's expression, which was on the verge of tears before sighing and letting Riku go. "Get out of my castle," he said exhaustedly.

Kairi was shocked, Beast now seemed so depleted compared to a few moments ago, "But-" she began.

Beast spun around to face the two, rage once again flaring into his expression. "GET OUT!" he roared menacingly.

Kairi and Riku didn't waste any time fleeing the entrance hall to the courtyard. The two caught their breath there for a moment, hunched over. Riku looked miserable as he said, "I told you I shouldn't have come here."

Kairi frowned. She hated it when her friends were hurt in some way. She was about to comfort Riku when a much gentler voice than the one they heard a few minutes ago called out, "Hello? What brings you two here?"

Riku and Kairi looked in the direction of the voice to see a young woman who was dressed in a simple blue skirt with a white apron carrying a basket. She had dark brown hair that was pulled back in a single braid and eyes that were the color of Beast's fur. Riku paled once more at the sight of this person and Kairi felt a spark of recognition. "Belle!" she said delightedly.

Belle looked quizzically at Kairi for a moment before the same spark of recognition lit in her eyes and she said, "Kairi! Whatever are you doing here?"

Kairi grinned at her fellow Princess of Heart and answered, "Trying to figure out what's wrong with Beast."

Belle's expression turned solemn, "I'm afraid his situation's a bit solemn at the moment. Someone's stolen the Rose that's cursed him to look like a Beast. This castle just never seems to get a break. Just the other day Sora was here and defeated someone from an Organization who wanted the castle as a fortress for some war."

Kairi felt her heart almost stop at the mention of Sora. "Sora was _here_?" she asked with a small glowing hope.

Belle nodded as she answered, "He's the only one I know who wields that interesting key weapon."

Riku who had been quiet this entire conversation spoke up now, "It's called a keyblade."

Belle had been ignoring the silver-haired teenager, but at the sound of his voice she looked over and visibly paled. "You!" she exclaimed in fear.

Riku sighed and opened his mouth to explain, but Kairi beat him to it, "No we didn't steal the Rose, Riku fights for the side of Light now, he's been training me here all day."

Kairi flashed a reassuring smile to her friend as Belle nodded, but still managed to look wary of the silver-haired Keybearer. "If you say so, but I'm sorry if I can't trust him just yet," she explained in an apologetic tone.

Kairi sighed in exasperation. Her expression brightened as she voiced an idea that popped into her head, "I know! Let us help Beast find his Rose!"

Kairi beamed at Belle and Riku, both of whom were staring at Kairi incredulously. Riku as usual recovered first and asked, "What do you mean help?"

Kairi gave Riku a _don't talk to me like I'm crazy look_ before answering, "It's obvious that the Rose is important to Beast so if Riku gets it back maybe we could get into his good graces!"

Riku was quick with his comeback, "Or he could think that I had in fact stolen it in the first place."

Kairi opened her mouth to retort, then closed it again and tapped her chin in thought. "I hadn't thought of that," she admitted.

Belle chose this moment to enter into the conversation, "If you want, I could vouch for you. If you're able to get the Rose back I think I could trust you, and if you have a helping voice that Beast trusts, Beast might be able to trust you as well."

Riku thought about this idea for a moment and shrugged in resignation. "It's worth a shot, but first can you tell us more about Sora?" he asked.

Belle seemed taken aback by the abrupt change in topic, but dutifully tried to answer. "Well, he showed up here a few days ago. I thought it was strange because Donald and Goofy weren't with him. He seemed to be traveling alone and was wearing an Organization XIII cloak. Beast almost mauled him before he summoned his… keyblade was it? Anyway after that Beast trusted him right away and a portal of Darkness suddenly appeared. A woman stepped out and claimed that she had come to take over this world. Sora fought her and I think he won, although I'm not sure because they both jumped into a portal of darkness, but not before destroying one of the pillars in the entrance hall."

Kairi's heart sank at this story because she had a feeling that the person who had fought wasn't Sora. Riku asked, "Did Sora wield two keyblades, a black one and a white one?"

Belle seemed surprised at the question but answered none the less, folding her hands in front of her and holding the basket with both hands. "Why yes. Yes he did. Was that important?" she inquired.

Kairi was officially depressed, and Riku uttered a small curse under his breath. Sighing he said, "That wasn't Sora. I was hoping I'd been wrong when you mentioned he was here, but it seems I guessed right. Roxas is out there."

Kairi could feel the tears welling up behind her eyes and she felt her lip trembling. She would not cry, she had promised herself that. Taking a deep breath she asked, "But if he's separated from Sora once again, does that mean Sora's a Heartless now?"

_No. _Kairi jumped at the sound of a voice echoing throughout her mind. She paused for a moment before thinking inquisitively and in disbelief, _Namine?_

After a moment of silence she once again felt a voice echo in her head, _Yes, it's good to speak with you again Kairi._

Kairi was stunned, to think that she could communicate with her Nobody after a year of silence was definitely strange to her. _It's good to talk to you too, I suppose. Although a bit surprising,_ she thought.

Kairi heard a strange sound in her head and realized it was Namine laughing. _Yes, I've been trying to communicate to you for a long time, but since we got back to Destiny Islands I couldn't for some reason. Anyway, Sora isn't a Heartless again, he's just trapped somewhere in the Dark Realm, maybe in a temporary world, _Namine thought back.

Kairi was stunned by this news, and felt that small glimmer of hope once again spreading throughout her chest. _Can someone really make a temporary world? _she asked.

Don't underestimate the power of Darkness, the people we are fighting against this time are very powerful, and seem to have a mastery over Darkness that not even Maleficent had. Roxas fought one and was beaten back, Namine answered.

_How do you know this_? Kairi asked. She felt puzzled at how her Nobody could know such a thing.

_Because Roxas and I are connected, just like you and Sora. If it wasn't for him being imprisoned you would be able to see and feel the things he sees and feels,_ came the answer.

Kairi waited expectantly for more, but Namine had fallen silent for the time being. Kairi was in contemplative thought when she noticed Riku and Belle looking at her funnily. "What?" she asked.

Riku and Belle traded a glance of worry. Riku broke the silence by saying, "You haven't been answering anything for the past few minutes, what happened?"

Kairi forced herself to remain calm at this news. "I was having a conversation with Namine," she replied.

Riku felt his eyebrows disappear behind his bangs as they shot up in incomprehension. "How's that even possible?" he asked.

Kairi shook her head in exasperation. "I don't know, the only thing she told me was Sora's being held captive on a temporary world created in the Darkness," she said exasperatedly.

If possible Riku thought his eyebrows might have risen a bit higher. "Our enemies can create worlds now?" he asked in an unbelieving tone.

Kairi shrugged in response. "That's what Namine said," she tried to explain.

Riku nodded before turning to Belle and asking, "Do you have any idea what could have happened to Beast's Rose?"

Belle seemed to think about this question for a minute before sighing and shaking her head in apology. "No, I'm afraid not," she stated.

Riku sighed as he pinched his nose in thought. This was going to be troublesome.

Just as it seemed no leads were going to be found here, a voice called out, "Hey yous brats!"

The three in the courtyard looked around themselves before looking up to see a giant cat-looking thing standing on the railings of one of the balconies. The cat was dressed with a red shirt, blue pants, and armor shoulder plating with a giant white X crisscrossing his body. The cat wasn't what drew the three's attention, it was what the cat was holding, "Maleficent should reward me nicely for this baby," he said as he patted the glass case under his arm.

In it was a withering red rose. "So you're the one who took the Rose!" Belle shouted at him in fury.

The cat smiled and responded obstinately, "That's right! Name's Pete, whatchyous gonna do 'bout it?"

Pete realized he had made a mistake because he suddenly saw Riku and Kairi summon their keyblades. "Ah friends o' the Keybrat! If I take yous out I might get an even better reward!" he shouted out challengingly.

Pete jumped down to land on the other side of the courtyard and quickly turned to face the trio. However Riku was already sprinting towards him and Pete barely managed to block _Way to Dawn_ with his gauntlet. Riku wasn't affected as he masterfully slid under Pete and was able to take his legs out from under him. The glass case holding the Rose slipped out of Pete's hands and flew towards the ground before Kairi rushed over and caught it.

Pete was carefully getting to his feet, when Riku's keyblade was placed on the tip of his nose. He chuckled nervously as he said, "Now let's not be too hasty, eh?"

Riku smirked, but Pete had one last card to play as he summoned dozens of Heartless to surround the courtyard and disappeared into a portal of Darkness laughing. Riku sighed as he turned to count the Heartless. He completed the count and blinked. Fifty. _Damn._

Kairi turned to Belle and gave her the Rose. "Find someplace safe," she told Belle.

Kairi boldly summoned her keyblade and charged into the fray that Riku had begun to create as Belle rushed to the castle doors. Kairi was amazed at how much easier it was to fight the Heartless now. Looked like all that training paid off after all.

Still she was nothing compared to Riku who seemed to be able to take out three Heartless in one slash. Kairi flipped over a Big Body and stabbed it to watch it fade into Darkness. Suddenly she felt a burning heat coming towards her and ducked down instinctively to see a wave of flames pass over her head. Riku caught sight of the Crimson Jazz and sent a counter wave of Dark Aura towards the creature destroying it.

The two continued to methodically dispatch the Heartless, when a ferocious roar shook the courtyard. Kairi and Riku looked toward the castle doors to see Beast standing at the top of the steps, before he jumped into the battle as well. With Beast now assisting them the three heroes made quick work of the remaining Heartless.

As the last Heartless faded to Darkness, Beast turned his attention to the two keywielders. The silence was broken when the Beast's expression softened slightly as he said, "Belle tells me you were the one who retrieved my Rose."

Riku stared stoically at the Beast for a moment before giving him a slight nod of gratitude. The Beast examined Riku for a moment more before turning his back on him and whispering softly, "Thank you."

Kairi laughed at Riku's dumbfounded expression as Belle stepped out once more and walked towards the two. "Thank you for all you've done, we-" she started.

Belle was interrupted as a clock jumped onto her shoulder and completed what she had begun to say, "We would like to congratulate you on helping our master, we are throwing a ball soon and hoped you could come?"

Riku stared at the talking clock for a moment before shrugging. He had seen stranger things, and these types of odd encounters just seemed to go with the title of Keybearer. Kairi smiled warmly at the clock before answering, "We'd love to, but I'm afraid now that we know for sure Roxas and Sora are out there, we want to find them as soon as possible."

The clock seemed to be slightly dejected at Kairi's answer, but Belle smiled reassuringly as she said, "Well good luck to you two, I hope you find the people you are looking for."

Kairi and Riku nodded, and Belle surprised them both by giving them a hug, which made Riku blush slightly. "As we say here _Au revoir_," Belle said with a flair of her hand.

"What's that mean?" Kairi asked.

Belle laughed cheerily at Kairi's question when she answered, "It means 'until we meet again.'"

Kairi grinned at her fellow Princess of Heart and the two keywielders turned back toward their Gummi Ship.

* * *

Kairi and Riku were once again in the gummi ship with Riku driving towards their next destination. After Riku had switched on the autopilot he stood up and stretched before sitting back down and swiveling his chair so he could talk to Kairi. "So what exactly is your keyblade's name?" he asked.

Kairi looked up from her reverie, obviously startled by the question. "Um, what do you mean?" she asked.

Riku smirked while he replied, "I mean each keyblade has its own name, Sora uses the _Kingdom Key_, Roxas uses both _Oblivion_ and _Oathkeeper_, and I use _Way to Dawn_. So what's yours? It refused to tell me when I asked it before I gave it to you."

Kairi felt her face grow red and mumbled something incoherent. Riku cupped his hand around his ear. "Sorry, couldn't hear that," he said jokingly.

Kairi, with her face almost as red as her hair, said, "It's called _Love's Embrace_."

**A/N: **So that is now the second chapter of Elegy of Darkness, I must say I'm enjoying writing this story far more than I have my other stories. The only downside is I have yet to have a single review, but I won't let that discourage me! I will continue to write this story, I'm determined to finish it. I already have a rough, _very_ rough mind you, outline of the story and what the chapters will be called. So now I can do this, next chapter _Through the Looking Glass_. And no I don't own that title, but I've always wanted to use it for something. I guess the only thing left to say is please review, if you don't I'm just going to assume that my story is so good that it shocked you speechless.


	4. Through the Looking Glass

**A/N:** Hello everyone, here is another chapter for Elegy of Darkness, if you want the full story of why it took so long to update read the author's note at the bottom, if you don't care just enjoy the chapter.

A special shout out to **NinjaSheik **my first ever reviewer for Elegy, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. Also if you meant the game Alice Mcgee then I have heard a few things about it. Well then…

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts, I do however own my OC's and if you use them I will set Kaoru on you. (Believe me when I say you don't want that!)

_Chapter 3: Through the Looking Glass_

Kairi felt a little odd piloting the gummi; it had always been either Riku or Sora who usually did it. That's not to say that she couldn't pilot it so when she realized Riku was about to pass out from exhaustion she demanded that he let her drive. Riku was a little reluctant at first, but once he realized that she wasn't going to crash them into anything, he went out like a light.

Kairi listened to her friends light snores with slight amusement, she never would've guessed that Riku snored, no matter how lightly. Her eyes widened as a world began to take shape in the view-port; she glanced at the gummi logs and saw that Sora had been here before, maybe Roxas might've come here now. She swiveled in her seat her toes barely touching the ground and placed a hand on the silver-haired Keybearer whispering gently, "Riku."

Riku gave a small grimace as he exited his slumber and slowly opened his teal eyes to see the red-headed Keybearer grinning at him, rolling his eyes he asked groggily, "We're there?"

Kairi let a small grin play across her lips at her friend's drowsiness before answering. "Yep, we're coming up on Wonderland now, I hope something is there to find a clue about Sora."

Riku paused mid-yawn and voice dripping with sarcasm said, "Great another world that has a Princess of Heart."

Kairi rolled her eyes at her friend's sarcastic tone, "Oh please, stop being so over-dramatic."

Riku sighed as he stretched his arms and the ship came to a stop outside the world's orbit, this was going to be a very long day.

* * *

Kairi was capturing the scenes of Wonderland with slight disappointment. When Sora had described Wonderland he had said it was a bizarre place where cards were alive, size was a relative matter, and a ruthless queen ruled. She had _not_ been expecting to see a normal cottage perched on a hill.

"Well this isn't what I was expecting." Kairi turned towards the voice to see Riku smirking in her direction, she scowled at his teasing, "There must be some kind of mistake, is there more than one Wonderland?"

Riku shrugged in response to the question, forcing Kairi to be content with that answer, she sighed as she began to march up the walkway towards the door of the cottage. Riku rolled his eyes at his friend's behavior before slowly following the fiery red head.

The cottage seemed somewhat small and littered about the floor were various toys for cats and kittens, as well as an old chess set. Kairi carefully picked her way through the cottage frowning all the time, "Where do you thin Alice is?"

Riku sighed, he was beginning to get annoyed with not being able to answer these questions, "I don't know."

Kairi eventually comes upon a mirror that is over a mantle piece, it seemed fairly old, but there was something about it…

Riku appeared in the reflection of the mirror, "What is it?"

Kairi didn't answer, but kept staring at the mirror until she slowly began to raise her right hand and gently placed it on the mirror. She let out a small gasp as her hand went _through_ the mirror. Riku's only response to this absurd circumstance was to raise an eyebrow.

Kairi jerked her hand back quickly and held it close to her chest for a moment with her eyes closed. She gave a few short breaths to gather her courage then opened her eyes and held her hand out in front of her to see that nothing had happened. As she examined it she started to say, "Well that was…" she paused for a moment searching for the right word, "…odd."

Riku's other eyebrow shot up and he let a small smirk slide onto his face. "Welcome to Wonderland," he said confidently as he walked up to the mirror and strode straight through the glass.

Kairi could only gape after her friend for a moment before exclaiming, "Wait for me!"

She ran through the glass after Riku, hopefully prepared for whatever was on the other side.

* * *

Kairi arrived on the other side of the mirror and let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. However when she glanced around she found she had simply come to the room with the mirror, only reversed. Riku was waiting for her by the door to the cottage leaning casually on the doorframe. Kairi walked slowly over to him, "So what now?"

Riku shrugged as he folded his arms across his chest, " I guess we'll just have to look around and see what we see, hopefully we'll find Sora, but I wouldn't mind finding Roxas at this point either."

And with that Riku unfurled his arms and walked out the door and straight into a garden that finally looked as if it belonged in Wonderland. He was about to begin the long trek down a path when an ubiquitous voice called out, "Oh ho! What have we here?"

Riku jumped a little and twirled to his left summoning _Way to Dawn_, he didn't like it when people snuck up on him. He was dumbfounded when all he saw was a smile and a pair of eyes watching him inquisitively. Riku was about to ignore this when the smile opened and began to _talk_, welcome to Wonderland indeed, "Someone who is Dark, yet walks in the Light?"

Kairi finally was able to join Riku and was about to reprimand him for almost leaving her when she noticed the cat that gradually materializing from nowhere, "That which you seek may or may not be here, but tell me, how can you find Nothing?"

Riku blinked at the cat's twisted sense of logic before Kairi answered for them both, "We have to try."

The cat pranced around Riku and Kairi with what seemed to be glee, "Of course, of course! A good answer! Let's hope you find one or the other before they…" the cat began to fade away until only the smile and eyes were left, "…_disappear_."

Kairi sighed with a look of exasperation, "This world is confusing."

Riku nodded to show that he agreed with the Princess when their keyblades suddenly flashed into existence as Heartless began to slowly materialize out of the Darkness. Kairi scowled at the Heartless that were now surrounding them as she took her battle stance, "Where did all of you come from!?"

Riku answered this question by taking out the two nearest Shadows and blocked an attack from a Neoshadow. Kairi jumped into the fray and was able to take out a few Shadows of her own when all of the Heartless suddenly disappeared. Riku and Kairi both wore expressions of surprise when a calm, thoughtful voice drifted to their ears, "I did not expect any Wielders to be on this world yet."

Riku and Kairi spun around and to their dismay they saw someone with a familiar coat, familiar to Riku anyway. Steely gray eyes observed the two from the edge of the woods on a high tree branch, it was Cretos. Riku stayed in his attack stance as Cretos lazily gazed at the two, "Who are you!?"

Cretos raised an eyebrow as if surprised by this question, "I'm the one controlling the Heartless obviously."

Riku couldn't sit still anymore he launched himself towards Cretos. The gray-eyed man merely sidestepped Riku and kicked him in the abdomen, hard. Riku collapsed to the ground the wind having been knocked out of him. Cretos looked down on Riku, "Sora sends his regards."

A dark portal opened behind Cretos, but Riku stopped him by grabbing his cloak, "Wait."

Kairi winced at how weak Riku sounded just then, she hated it when her friends were hurt. Cretos studied Riku contemplatively, "Don't worry, for the time being I am keeping him to myself, if I hand him over to my superior he will be killed on the spot."

Cretos then proceeded to kick Riku's hand off him and stepped into the portal leaving him behind. Kairi shouted exasperatedly, "No, come back! Tell us where Sora is!"

Riku cracked a potion and recovered enough to stand up, "I think he almost cracked a rib."

Kairi winced, that sounded painful. Kairi was about to say something, but was interrupted by a thought from Namine, _You need to focus._

Kairi was beginning to be thoroughly bewildered by her Nobody's come and go attitude, _What do you mean?_

_Sora might not be here, but that doesn't mean Roxas isn't._

Kairi's eyes widened at Namine's statement, she was right, they still had a chance of finding Roxas. She was about to tell Riku just that when Heartless once more came out of the Darkness. Riku swiftly batted away a Neoshadow before being blasted back by a Crimson Jazz's explosion, which he was able to block with Dark Shield. Kairi was able to bag a few Shadows of her own before a Large Body mad itself known by slamming into her side.

Kairi felt her breath rush out of her in a low whistle as she went flying through the air towards a small space devoid of Heartless. Riku destroyed the Jazz with a diagonal slash before using Dark Aura to take out four Shadows. While he ran past to combat the other Large Body that had spawned on the other side of the battlefield he chucked Kairi a potion. She cracked it over her head and felt the warm green tendrils heal her wounds.

Riku was able to flip over the other Large Body while Kairi faced off against her own. Kairi managed to somehow spin around the Heartless and slashed at it from behind, but it began sliding on its stomach towards Riku who had already destroyed the other one. Riku noticed this just in time to deflect it back towards Kairi who destroyed it with a stab of her keyblade.

Kairi was a little out of breath by the end of the battle, but otherwise fine, Riku on the other hand wasn't even breathing hard. She just shook her head, she still couldn't figure out how the two of them did this without getting tired. Riku grinned at Kairi, "Well that was fun."

Kairi rolled her eyes and nodded, "Yeah, let's not do it again."

Riku had a smirked at Kairi's comment before a loud crash brought the two's attention once more to the edge of the woods. Out of the woods came a clumsy looking man and his horse, both of which seemed to be dressed in what would be white armor, except the armor on the man looked as if he had hit the dirt a few too many times. Accompanying him was a young girl with blonde hair, vivid blue eyes, and wearing a simple blue dress. She also had a headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes, and for some reason Kairi suddenly thought of how interesting it would be to see Riku wearing a headband. Kairi's eyes lit up when she saw the girl, "Alice!"

Alice gave a small start of surprise and looked around to see who had called her name. Her eyes finally came to rest on a certain auburn haired keyblade wielder. Her expression made an amazing transformation form dissatisfied to one of pure delight at reuniting with a friend, "Kairi!"

Alice rushed away from the knight who bid her a short farewell before turning back to the woods and getting on his way. Alice ran to Kairi and pulled her into a bear hug, "Oh thank goodness, finally someone with some sense. But whatever are you doing here-" and then she caught sight of Riku, "and with _him_?"

Riku winced slightly at the tone of Alice's voice. Kairi let out a small sigh, why did she feel as though she was going to have to explain this every time, " Riku is our friend, he only fell into the Darkness because he believed that it was the right thing to do at the time, and believe me he regrets it."

Alice was silent throughout the whole explanation and at the end she nodded, "Well I suppose that's good enough for me."

Riku and Kairi's expression clearly betrayed their shock, and Riku couldn't help himself, "Why?"

Alice looked slightly hurt as she shrugged, "If Kairi forgave you, so can I, by the way where's Sora, I'd like to see him again as well."

It was Kairi's turn to wince. Riku sighed before explaining, "That's why we're here, have you seen someone who looks a lot like Sora?"

Alice scrunched her face in concentration for a moment before shaking her head, "I don't think so, maybe someone at the edge of these woods will be able to help, I'm heading there now."

Riku and Kairi's expressions expressed hope at this, and the three began walking into the woods once more.

* * *

They finally arrived at a large town where many people were gathered around a man of small stature with a white crown. Riku was the first to see him and pointed him out, "I'm assuming that's the white king."

The trio approached the king with Alice leading the group, "Excuse me sir…"

Alice never got to ask her question as the king cut her off with one of her own, "Can you see somebody coming up the road?"

Alice seemed a little flustered by the sudden question, but nonetheless squinted in the distance and tried to answer, "I see nobody in the distance."

"What eyesight you have to be able to see Nobody! Why I can barely see _real _people half the time!"

Alice became even more flustered at this while Riku smirked and Kairi merely frowned in deep thought trying to solve that riddle. Alice let loose a sigh as she once again joined her friends, the king decided to go the other way leaving them alone, "Well that was odd."

Riku rolled his eyes as Kairi said, "Don't worry about it," apparently she had decided to give up on the king's sense of logic, funny it was somewhat like that cat's, playing on words and there meanings.

The three began to once again walk in the woods, but Riku stopped the other two, "Wait something's not right."

Kairi gave an inquisitive look to her friend, but he just shook his head. Alice was looking from Riku to Kairi before tilting her head inquisitively, "Hey do either of you here that?"

Riku's eyes widened and he swore under his breath as he picked a soft rumbling sound gradually getting louder. He summoned _Way to Dawn_, "Get ready Kairi, this one won't be easy."

Kairi summoned _Love's Embrace_, but looked a little uneasy at the sound. She had a feeling this was going to be interesting if nothing else. The trees exploded outward as a giant Heartless came into the clearing.

Kairi's eyes widened, the Heartless was _huge_. She had heard Sora's stories about giant Heartless before, but this was insane. The Heartless was at least three stories tall, heavily armored in checkered white and black, on its head was a crown with the Heartless symbol, and it held a giant scepter in its hand, in fact it looked somewhat like a chess queen.

Riku didn't waste any time charging towards the Heartless when it suddenly raised its scepter and a Dark barrier was erected around it, Riku tried in vain to hit the thing, but a swipe from the scepter sent him flying backwards.

Kairi watched her friend fly and forced herself to unfreeze her limbs turning to Alice, "Get to a safe place, we'll take care of this."

Alice nodded and took off to hide somewhere, Kairi gripped her keyblade with two hands and faced the Heartless with grim determination. She threw herself at the Heartless, but after her third swing she realized it was all for naught. _Okay, new strategy_.

Kairi wasn't entirely sure how she did it, but she was able to let out a cry of "Blizzard!" and a frozen ball of energy exploded from the tip of her keyblade. It hit the Heartless dead on and froze it for a moment.

Riku suddenly jumped on the Heartless's arm and kicked its wrist to force it to let go of the scepter. Twirling around the scepter he kicked out and sent it flying straight into the Heartless.

Kairi wasted no time dashing to the Heartless and hacking away her keyblade, and to her delight it connected. But the armor was a problem, she just couldn't seem to find an opening to finish it. Suddenly she was on the other side of the clearing once more having been blasted back by the erection of another Dark barrier.

Riku stooped beside her with a look of concern before cracking a potion, reviving their smaller wounds. As Kairi shakily got to her feet Riku studied the Heartless, she had to admit that her fiend was amazing, all of those acrobatics earlier and he wasn't even breathing hard. Riku leaned in to whisper to her, "Let's try that again, but this time go for its head when its down."

Kairi nodded and once again gripped her keyblade, she was silent as she tried to remember what casting magic had felt like. She began sprinting towards the Heartless with Riku beside her, and tried to fire off another Blizzard while on the run, and to her surprise she did.

Riku took from there by once again performing gravity defying acrobatics to take out the Heartless's barrier.

Kairi was waiting for the Heartless this time and was able to get up onto its midriff area, as it lay stunned. She charged the head and slashed downward with all her might, feeling the telltale sign of a jarring in her arms meaning that she had connected. She jumped off the Heartless as it faded back into Darkness slowly and watched as the heart was released.

Kairi panted as she gratefully fell to her knees keyblade flashing away. Riku approached her, _Way to Dawn_ also disappearing. Riku smirked at his exhausted friend, "Well that was fun."

Kairi glared at her silver haired friend before falling backwards on her behind to sit, hands splayed out behind her and feet splayed out in front. She closed her eyes, "I'm so tired."

Riku gave a small chuckle at this and crouched down near his auburn haired friend, "It's probably because you used magic for the first time, it really takes a toll on you."

Kairi groaned, her entire body felt like jelly, she wouldn't be using any excessive magic anytime soon if this is what it did to you. Riku rolled his eyes as he pulled an ether out of his pocket and cracked it over his friend's head.

Kairi felt her fatigue slowly begin to fade away as her cramped muscles relaxed, and in a moment she felt almost as good as new. She nodded her head in thanks to Riku who merely grinned, "Believe me, this gets easier over time.

Alice chose this moment to run out of her hiding place in the woods and pull her two friends into a tight embrace, surprising them both. Riku's face was priceless as the Princess of Heart finally let go, "Don't scare me like that, I thought you two could've gotten seriously hurt, or worse!"

Kairi grinned sheepishly for a moment while Riku suddenly burst into laughter. Alice and Kairi stared for a moment before joining in; they deserved a little merriment after having destroyed a threatening Heartless. Riku was finally able to calm down enough to ask, "Where to now?"

It seemed the trio didn't have an answer to that so Alice suggested, "Well I suppose we'll go to the Queens' Garden."

Having thought of nothing better both Kairi and Riku nodded their approval and followed Alice as she once again began to march through the woods.

* * *

Riku slipped away from the gossiping ladies for a moment. The Queens were nice enough in their own way, but a little too chatty for his taste, not to mention their twisted sense of logic. That seemed to be a theme here in Wonderland.

Riku sighed contentedly as he sat down and leaned on a giant tree closing his eyes letting the wind ruffle his silver bangs. When he sat like this he could almost hear the calming effects of a tide gently pushing and pulling on a beach. He felt truly at peace with the world.

His peace was not to last as a certain ubiquitous voice interrupted his haven of silence and nature, "Well if it isn't Somebody who is Dark yet walks in the Light!"

Riku scowled as his teal eyes snapped open to see…

…nothing. There wasn't anything near the large tree that he was leaning against. Riku's expression turned to one of puzzlement fairly quickly, where had the voice come from?

"Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Riku gave a small start as the voice once again filled the area near the tree and quickly stood up, his scowl returning once more. Glaring around the tree he asked loudly, "Why don't you just show yourself!?"

Riku heard a sigh come in the direction from his left, "Sometimes you keywielders are so hard to deal with. The one from Nothing also needed visuals to believe."

Riku's expression gradually softened as these words took meaning, he asked with a tone of hope in his voice, "You've seen Roxas?"

The cat gradually began to appear on a low branch, once again letting his smile come into existence first, "Maybe, maybe not. I will however tell you that in a place where dragons dwell, Darkness is gathering."

Riku pinched his nose in frustrated thought, he hated dealing with this damn cat and its logic, "So what…"

He stopped what he was about to say when he realized that the cat had disappeared once more. Riku sighed in exasperation, _I really hate that damn cat_.

* * *

Kairi's eyes widened in delight as Riku explained his encounter with the Cheshire Cat, although he seemed a little angry at the cat Kairi was willing to forgive it because it had given them valuable information. "So Roxas was here as well?"

Riku nodded, "Yeah, but my theory is he's not here anymore and is headed to that world that's about to be consumed by Darkness."

Kairi bit her lip in deep thought her auburn locks falling across her face to cover her eyes. She looked up bangs falling out of her face to reveal her blue eyes, "I think you're right, but where is that world? How are we going to get there if we don't know where it is?"

Riku sighed as he shook his head in an annoyed way, "That's the roadblock I eventually hit."

Alice chose to interject her opinion at this point of the conversation, "Um I have this if it could be of any help."

Alice held out her hand to reveal a navigation gummi sitting snugly in the palm of her hand, "The cat that keeps on disappearing gave it to me."

Riku and Kairi looked from Alice to her hand, both having shocked expressions. Needless to say Alice wasn't prepared for when her two friends threw themselves at her and gave her a giant hug, Kairi smiled as they separated and gently took the gummi block from Alice's hand, "Thank you. With this we're finally on our way to finding Sora, I just know it."

Alice smiled sweetly to her friends, despite the fact that her ears were a bright red from embarrassment, "Glad I could help."

Riku flashed Alice a dazzling smile, making Alice blush as she realized that he truly did belong in the Light with a smile like that. She came back from her thoughts when she realized he had said something, "Erm sorry, didn't catch that."

Riku rolled his eyes in a playful sort of way before repeating, "A new world is calling, and unfortunately we must now part ways."

Alice felt the smile slip off her face a this, but Kairi gave her one last gentle hug, "Don't worry we'll see each other again, and besides we're always right here," as she stepped back from the hug she pointed to Alice's heart, "just like Sora is still right here." Kairi placed a hand on her own heart smiling.

Alice's smile returned as Kairi and Riku began to walk into the woods and then disappeared, but she wasn't worried, after all they would remain in her heart forever. Sighing she made her way back to the Queens' Garden although a small smile played at the corners of her mouth.

* * *

Kairi swiveled in her chair as Riku inputted the navigation block into the gummi ship. Riku's eyebrows shot up as he read something on the display, "It looks like Sora's been to this world before. When I see the name I can't imagine why I didn't think of it."

Kairi's curiosity got the best of her, "So what's the name?"

Riku felt a small grin tug at the corners of his mouth, "Land of Dragons."

**A/N: **Well that is the third full chapter of Elegy, and believe me I would have had this sooner but I started school again and I just couldn't find the time to work on this. So I improvised, normally I type the chapters, but I'm going to start writing them in a notebook and then typing them so I can update slightly faster. I am very excited with the review I've read, and am overjoyed that it is positive. The next chapter will be up within the next week hopefully. And if any of you are wondering yes, Roxas will be in the next chapter, but not until the very end. Please review, although I've gotten one I would greatly appreciate more. Next is _Nobody_.


	5. Nobody

**A/N**: Hello again all my readers, for those of you that have been reading I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry I posted later than I said I would, but I had to also write like three other papers for school, two of which are not finished yet. I must say I'm ecstatic that those of you who have reviewed so far find my story interesting, and to **projectfreq91**, sorry for the grammar issues, but I'm focusing more on story and character development at the moment, eventually I will go back and fix all grammatical errors, but I want to get my ideas down before I forget them, and sometimes grammar just takes second place. I will say, however, that I appreciate your input and I am trying to pay attention slightly more to grammar, and yes I know that the more I write the more people will review, I just like to put stuff like that at the end of chaps to see if anyone will review. Also, thank you very much to **NinjaSheik **and **Elleny** for reviewing. Ok I'm done with my little rant now on to Elegy.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts nor anything affiliated to Disney/Square Enix. I do, however, own OC's and if you take them without my permission bad things will happen to you. _Very_ bad things. That is all.

_Chapter 4: Nobody_

Riku yawned as he steered the gummi ship through the space between worlds. It had been a long flight and once again a certain red haired princess was lightly snoring in the co-pilots chair. After they had input the navigation gummi Riku had told her to rest, after all the gummi basically steered itself, and she had just defeated a giant Heartless, she deserved a little reward for her efforts. Unfortunately the only thing Riku could really offer was down time between Wonderland and Land of Dragons, but he wasn't complaining. After all it he did enjoy the silence that space gave, it made him feel tranquil, which was needed to keep the Darkness in him at bay.

Riku felt at ease wit the controls steering themselves for a changed and his hands interlocked behind his silver hair, however his meditative state wouldn't last long as red warning signals suddenly sprang to life with sirens. Kairi snapped awake in an instant, "Cherry Lemons!"

After realizing what she had just shouted she blushed as Riku let out a small chuckle, "Boy do I want to know what you were dreaming about."

She glared at the silver haired keywielder, "Throwing you onto a world with all Princess's of Heart."

Riku flinched, guess he deserved that. Kairi brushed a lock of red hair behind her ear while looking at the screens before asking, "What exactly is wrong?"

Riku flipped a few switches and the sirens went off. "We're under attack."

Kairi's face paled at these words, "A-attack?"

Riku nodded as he disengaged the autopilot and went to manual, letting the weapons systems fire up in the process. "I suggest you buckle up."

Riku gave Kairi a wolfish grin as soon as she was secure, which she didn't like at all. "Riku-"

She never got to finish as Riku blasted the gummi full throttle and all she could do was scream.

* * *

Riku switched the gummi back to autopilot as Kairi held her head and groaned, "Please make the world stop now, I want to get off."

Riku felt a grin as they approached the world, he hadn't done too bad considering how rusty he was from using portals too much. True there had been a few fierce dogfights and he had almost lost the left engine, but they had made it out in one piece. He looked to the co-pilot seat to see his friend glaring at him. "What are you so happy about?" she asked.

His grin never left his face as he replied, "We're finally landing on a world that doesn't contain a Princess of Heart, I've been to this world before, and I have a few friends here as well."

Kairi felt a small smile began to grace her lips, she couldn't help it, when her friends were happy it just seemed contagious. She felt the ship come a slow halt and Riku turned to her, "Alright, let's do this."

The two disappeared in a flash of light going on world.

* * *

The friends had landed in what appeared to be a lush green bamboo forest. Riku walked next to a giant rock and examined it inquisitively. "I don't think I've been to this particular part of this world before."

Kairi shrugged in indifference as she took in the bamboo, it was an interesting plant after all. Just as she was turning around to begin walking what appeared to be a path a red blur came flying towards her face. Barely holding in a shriek of surprise she swatted it away.

Riku was about to inspect the thing when a feminine voice shouted, "Mushu!"

He looked up to see an opening in the bamboo and a young woman with dark hair and dark brown eyes walk into their little clearing. Up until this point the red thing, which Riku realized was a dragon had been lying as if playing dead. Upon hearing the woman he jumped up full of energy, "Mulan!"

Riku watched with slight amusement as the little red dragon fled to the woman. Her soft gaze shifted from Mushu to the two keywielders standing in the clearing, she bit her lip as if trying to remember something. Apparently she gave up because she asked, "I'm sorry I don't think I know you two. Who are you?"

Kairi stepped forward and placed a hand against her chest, "My name is Kairi," she then gesture to Riku, "an this is Riku, we're looking for someone maybe you could help us…"

Mulan took the hint Kairi dropped and bowed slightly, "My name is Fa Mulan."

She then looked at Kairi and Riku, "And are you the two friends who Sora was looking for?"

Kairi smiled and nodded, the Keyblade Master certainly had a lot of friends. "Yes, we're searching for _him_ this time, have you seen him?"

Mulan smiled at this irony, but shook her head dejectedly. "I'm sorry, but I have not heard from him since the time we beat that giant dragon together."

Mushu chose to pipe up at this point, "Yeah if my main man Sora were here I would know! Cause the Great Mushu knows everything that happens in China!"

Mulan rolled her eyes at Mushu's comment and bowed again to the two friends, "I'm sorry we couldn't have been more help."

Kairi shook her head, "It isn't your fault, but have you seen anyone who looks like Sora or is wielding a giant key?"

Mulan tilted her head in thought at this question before replying, "Well there was a dark hooded figure running around again," suddenly her expression brightened, "I know! Let's ask Captain Shang. He has the best information network in China that I know of."

Although Kairi had seemed slightly deflated at the fact Sora wasn't here she perked up upon hearing the news of a hooded figure, what if Sora's Nobody came back with a Organization cloak, that would mean, _Roxas._

Kairi blinked at the slight echo in the back of her mind that was not her own thought, it was still slightly odd to be able to hear Namine again. Riku was smirking in the direction of the fiery little dragon. "What happened to the Great Mushu knowing everything that goes on in China?"

"I knew all that stuff already, but a Family Guardian never gives away everything, it's better for you mortals to figure it out yourselves!" was Mushu's comeback.

Riku rolled his eyes, this dragon just didn't like being looked down upon, he had a feeling he was going to be annoyed with him eventually. Riku sighed as he turned back to Mulan. "Lead the way," this was quickly becoming a pattern.

* * *

Th encampment that Mulan led them to was bustling with activity, men were running around shouting orders, while some were setting up more tents, while still others seemed to be in line for a meal.

Mulan ignored all the commotion as she marched right through the encampment and up to a clean-shaven man dressed in light armor and wearing a red cape. He had the same color eyes and hair as Mulan, but his look was that of a battle hardened soldier.

Mulan bowed to the man, Kairi looked at Riku who shrugged and followed Mulan's lead, with Kairi being the last to bow. Mulan then began to speak, "Captain Shang, these are friends of Sora. They are looking for the hooded figure."

Shang rubbed his chin in contemplation as he stared off into space, "I suppose we have seen someone of that description in the mountains, however I don't think it would be wise to send you two alone, Chien-Po!"

A huge man with squinty eyes approached the four, "Yes, Captain?"

Kairi blinked, for being such a big man he had such a gentle voice. Shang's however, was no nonsense as he commanded, "Take these two to the mountain peaks, they're looking for a hooded person, similar to the one we encountered a year ago."

Chien-Po saluted smartly, "Yes sir!"

Riku grinned at the description, _he_ was the one they had encountered a year ago. Before they got on their way Mulan spoke up, "Captain, I believe _I _should be the one to go with them, after all Sora is my friend as well."

Shang's expression darkened with worry as he realized that Mulan wouldn't take no for an answer. Riku smoothly interjected between the two, "Don't worry, just ask Kairi, I'm better than Sora at fighting."

Kairi glared at Riku for getting her involved in this, but nodded her consent. "It's true, Riku is a good fighter."

Shang's expression cleared at this as he studied Riku, "Yes, I suppose I can believe that. Very well then, I wish the three of you luck on your journey."

The three bowed once more to Shang then followed Mulan out of the encampment and into a checkpoint near a mountain crevice. A small stream ran towards a gate where a large city could be seen in the distance.

"We must go up this mountain pass to reach where the person was last seen," Mulan explained to her two new friends as she pointed towards the crevice.

The trio began to walk towards it when Heartless began to materialize from the Darkness, Riku sighed as he observed an Assault Rider materialize, he hated those things. Mulan and Kairi were lucky to have to deal with the Nightwalkers. _Way to Dawn_ flashed into existence and Riku pointed it at the Assault Rider, "Let's see what you've got."

Kairi barely blocked a spinning attack from a Nightwalker and slashed through it to dispel it into Darkness, out of the corner of her eye she saw Mulan battling two, while Riku slashed at the Assault Rider while it was in the middle of a jump. Mulan destroyed one Heartless, but the other was giving her trouble, Riku suddenly dashed towards the Nightwalker and slashed, taking it out. Kairi sighed; he always made it look so easy.

The three met in the middle of the stream, with Riku keeping his keyblade handy and Mulan keeping her sword drawn. Kairi was about to banish it, but Riku stopped her, "Wait, I have a feeling we'll be needing these up the path."

Kairi nodded and the three began the long trek up the mountain path.

* * *

Kairi was panting as she destroyed another Shadow, they just seemed never ending, and as usual Riku was destroying many more than either Mulan or her. It looked like even he was getting tired though and Mulan was in even worse shape as she barely destroyed a Nightwalker. Kari narrowly avoided getting blown into a boulder by an Assault Rider and quickly slashed its legs before bringing her blade down through its shoulder. "Why are there so many of them?"

Riku frowned as he took out the last Assault Rider of that particular wave of Heartless. He paused for a moment and rummaged around in his pocket before pulling out a mega-ether. He cracked it and it surrounded Mulan and Kairi as well. Kairi sighed in relief as the bite of fatigue gently faded away. Riku then answered Kairi's question, "I think they're scouts for an army."

Mulan's starting paying closer attention at this conjecture, "An army will invade China?"

Riku shrugged, "It's only a theory right now and I hope I'm wrong, but the cat did say something about Darkness heading this way."

And with that the three started running up the mountain path once more.

* * *

The trio finally made it to a small village high in the mountains, a thin lair of snow covering the ground around the red tiled buildings. They finally had a respite form all the Heartless that had been attacking them and were taking a short break while Riku bargained with a moogle for potion and ether.

Kairi was splayed on the ground catching her breath when Riku walked over observing the rest of the little village. He grinned as he chucked an ether at the two girls and waited as they cracked them to regain their endurance. Kairi felt her heart rate finally slow down and she slowly stood up. "Where to now?"

Mulan tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, "I think it only makes sense to continue towards the mountain top that's where he was last seen."

Kairi sighed dejectedly, "There are going to be more Heartless on the way, huh?"

Riku smirked playfully, "Look on the bright side, at least you'll get some experience fighting from killing all these Heartless, you might even present a bit of a challenge to Sora now."

Kairi glared at Riku's teasing, "What about you?"

Riku's teasing smirk never left his face, "Well since I'm better at everything than Sora is, obviously not yet, but you might be getting close."

Kairi continued to glare at her silver haired friend as the trio moved away from the village. As soon as they were far enough away from the village Rapid Thrusters appeared to impede their progress. Kairi sighed as her keyblade flashed into existence; she hated it when Riku was right about these types of things.

* * *

Kairi blinked as she disposed of the last Rapid Thruster for a change. She grinned wolfishly as she wasn't even breathing hard this time. Looked like Riku was right about that as well. The grin slowly slipped off her face as she looked around her and realized that she was alone. "Guys."

She listened to her voice echo throughout the mountains eerily bouncing back to taunt her. The silence seemed to begin to close in on her, making her hear almost nothing but it. "Don't be alarmed Kairi."

Kairi bit back a scream as she whirled around raising her keyblade defensively. She blinked at what she saw. It was a man of slim build, wearing a mask so she couldn't see his full face. All she could see were his eyes, which were a muddy blue, flecked with a brilliant yellow, and framed by round wire framed glasses. His clothing consisted of dark cargo pants, a dark thermal shirt, and a dark vest full of an assortment of pockets.

Kairi kept her keyblade at the ready as she warily examined the stranger that had appeared from nowhere. His eyes likewise seemed to be taking in her features, "My name is Chishiki, I must say it's an honor to meet a Princess of Heart, especially the one Sora fell for."

Kairi glared at the man and exclaimed, "What do you know about Sora!?"

Chishiki's eyes seemed to sparkle and Kairi knew he was smiling at her. "I came to deliver a message because a good friend asked me to. Believe me, I don't do this often, he told me to tell you that Sora is okay."

Kairi blinked in surprise, well that threw her off. She slowly lowered her keyblade as a spark of hope ignited in her eyes, "You know where he is?"

Chishiki continued smiling at her question, "Why yes, yes I do. But that information is highly valuable and will cost at least 500,000 munny."

Kairi felt her jaw drop at the outrageous price, she raised her keyblade once more, anger darkening her expression. "I don't have that kind of money, just tell me where Sora is!"

Chishiki placed his right hand on his hip and shifted weight shaking his head in amusement at Kairi's outburst. "No can do, I have standards to uphold. Besides aren't you supposed to be looking for Roxas?"

Kairi opened her mouth to retort, but immediately closed it and lowered her keyblade warily. "Did you just say that Roxas was here?"

Chishiki seemed to realize what he said as his eyes widened in surprise, "Whoops, gotta watch the tongue sometimes, well since I already let that much slip, might as well tell you. _He_ is on this planet, Sora's not. Good luck!"

Kairi was startled when the man suddenly vanished, could everyone do that now? She shook her man, she didn't really like that man, he reminded her a little of the cat from Wonderland. She pouted for a moment before Riku's voice broke the silence once more, "_There_ you are!"

Kairi turned to see her friend running up the mountain towards her. She waited patiently as he caught his breath. "We've been looking everywhere for you! After we split up while fighting the Heartless-" he trailed off as he noticed that _Love's Embrace_ was still in Kairi's hand. "Any reason you still have that out?"

Kairi looked at her keyblade then blushed in embarrassment as she banished it in a flash of light. She replied quickly, "No reason, I just finished destroying the Heartless in this area."

Riku raised an eyebrow at this, but decided to let the matter slide. "Mulan is heading to the city now to see if she can warn them, if my theory about the Heartless attacking is right, this world could fall to Darkness."

He then looked past Kairi and his eyes widened, "Well, that sucks."

"What's the-" she cut off as she turned around to see Pete standing triumphantly atop one of the mountains, hundreds of Rapid Thrusters surrounding him ready for a fight. She heard Riku curse under his breath as _Way to Dawn_ flashed into existence. "I guess you should have kept that out after all."

Kairi nodded as she once again summoned her keyblade. Around this time Pete suddenly noticed the keywielding friends and squinting he got a clearer look at them. A spark of recognition ignited in his eyes and he pointed his finger accusingly at the teenage wielders. "You!"

Riku let a devilish grin grace his features as he called out, "Yo, Pete! Fancy meeting you here!"

Pete's expression crinkled into a scowl, "Get outta my way! I gotta get that castle for Maleficent!"

Kairi brandished her keyblade threateningly, a look of grim determination set on her face. "Not a chance!"

Pete cringed back in fright for a moment, before he looked to his left and then his right and a maniacal smile spread slowly across his face. This time he raised his hand and pointed it threateningly towards the two keywielders, "Get 'em!"

The Rapid Thrusters then began to advance menacingly upon the two friends. Riku was able to swipe two away while Kairi held off a few of her own. Riku was dashing around decimating the Heartless, with Kairi doing her own brand of damage. Riku deftly jumped into the air and destroyed another five before landing safely on the ground. He swiped another few before shouting, "This isn't getting us anywhere!"

Kairi could only nod in agreement as she was busy fending off more Heartless, "What should we do!?"

Riku destroyed another Rapid Thruster and looked up, a small smile starting to spread across his face as he formulated a plan. "I have an idea!"

He then launched himself skyward taking out two Rapid Thrusters while he was at it. He then began using the Heartless as stepping stones to get higher and higher, until the only thing Kairi could see was a small speck in the sky.

When he was above all the Heartless he closed his eyes, summoning the Darkness within himself. His body began to be surrounded by a Dark aura rippling with power and when he opened his eyes one of them had become orange. He then let himself be reclaimed by gravity.

Kairi watched in amazement as her friend rocketed towards the ground Dark energy engulfing his body, when he finally connected to the ground the energy all exploded outwards in a massive shock wave. Kairi closed her eyes and tried to shield her face with her hands. After a moment she gathered the courage to peer out of one eye to see what had become of the Heartless.

It looked as though all the Heartless had been destroyed and Riku was lying limply face down in the snow. "Riku!"

Kairi rushed over to the silver-haired keywielder, _Love's Embrace_ disappearing in a flash of light as she went. He she reached her friend she dropped to her knees and gently flipped him over cradling his head in her arms. She feared the worst before Riku grimaced and slowly blinked open his teal eyes blinking to clear away the drowsiness that threatened to consume him. Kairi let out a small sigh of relief and sat back on her heels as her friend sat up groggily holding his head.

When she was sure that he was all right she smacked the back of his head. Riku let out a yelp of pain and rubbed the back of his head glaring furiously at his redheaded friend. "What was that for!?"

"Don't scare me like that! Sora's already missing, don't you hurt yourself and leave me alone again!"

Riku opened his mouth for a witty retort, but quickly closed it when he glimpsed the look on his friend's face. He could only stare dejectedly at the ground for a moment before mumbling, "Sorry, won't happen again."

The two fell into an uncomfortable silence when Riku's eyes widened, "The Imperial City!"

Kairi jumped to her feet, "Mulan!"

Riku also quickly stood up and the two friends began sprinting down the mountain towards the Imperial City.

* * *

Riku and Kairi arrived in the Imperial City and were walking in a plaza just before the Imperial Palace. All seemed peaceful as child laughed happily back into its mother's arms, merchants bargained, and soldiers patrolled the streets. Riku shook his head, "Maybe I was wrong after all."

Kairi closed her eyes in thought for a moment before shaking her head, "No I don't think so, you heard Pete, he wants this castle for Maleficent."

Riku took a look around the peaceful atmosphere that surrounded the two of them, "Then where are all the Heartless?"

Kairi shrugged opening her blue eyes, "I don't know, but I have a feeling they'll be here soon, Pete seemed dead set on this castle."

"Kairi! Riku!"

The two keywielders turned towards the sound of the upbeat voice that had just exclaimed their names to see a familiar red dragon running towards them. He caught his breath after h got to them and exclaimed with a giant smile, "All's quiet here! I guess there won't be any Heartless attack after all, huh! Mulan's waiting for you guys at the palace!"

And with that the small dragon took off towards the Imperial Palace. Riku's mouth wrinkled into a frown, "We have to tell her that Pete is here and he has a Heartless army under his command."

* * *

Kairi nodded in agreement and the two friends ran after Mushu.

Mulan was waiting for them in the throne room, after much persuading she had been able to convince the people of the palace that an attack was immanent and the emperor had been evacuated. Captain Shang had gone with the soldiers to defend the emperor while Mulan stayed behind to help defend the city. She listened patiently to the story of the two keywielders, worry etched in her face by the time they had told her the entire thing.

She was pacing the room deep in thought while Kairi and Riku stood back and watched her. Riku smirked playfully and whispered to Kairi, "You think she'll make a hole if she continues this up?"

Kairi rolled her eyes at her friends teasing and walked o Mulan. "Mulan we need a plan, although the emperor is safe, there are still a lot of people in the city, not all of them will make it if Heartless attack."

Mulan nodded, "I know, that's why I had Chien-Po, Ling, and Yao go out to warn the people, they're doing their best to evacuate everyone."

Just then the doors burst open and the three aforementioned soldiers ran in. "Mulan! It's terrible, the palace is surrounded by those strange creatures!"

Mulan grimaced at this, but calmly walked out the door with the others following he lead. Surrounding the castle were thousands of Heartless, including Rapid Thrusters, Assault Riders, Bolt Towers, Nightwalkers, and Shadows. Standing on a broken wall was Pete, grinning from ear to ear. "Hullo Key brats! This time yous won't be getting' away!"

Riku scowled as he brought forth _Way to Dawn_ while the others drew their respective weapons. Kairi also let _Love's Embrace _flash into existence. Riku raised his keyblade in defiance, "We won't let you take this world Pete!"

With that everyone jumped into battle. Riku quickly decimated an Assault Rider, while Kairi was able to quickly dispose of the Shadows. Mulan and her friends began to carve a swath in the Rapid Thrusters and Nightwalkers. Riku cut down another Assault Rider and then a few Rapid Thrusters before shouting to Kairi, who was closest, "We need to get to Pete! He's the one controlling them! If we beat him, they should disappear!"

Kairi nodded at Riku's suggestion as she narrowly avoided a thrust from a spear. She dashed underneath the Assault Rider's legs and took it out. She then asked, "But where is he!?"

Riku used Dark Aura to destroy a few Shadows and Rapid Thrusters. He flipped over to a Bolt Tower and slashed its head sending it back to the Darkness. He was about to answer when another Bolt Tower surrounded and trapped him in energy, he struggled to free himself and managed to spin out of the trap and smack the energy back at the Heartless. "He should be somewhere in that direction!"

Riku pointed to where Pete had last been standing on the crumbled wall. Kairi nodded as she destroyed another three Shadows and began running in the direction Riku had pointed. Riku was about to follow her when he was suddenly surrounded by a massive amount of Rapid Thrusters. "Tch. That's a problem."

He quickly rose off the ground slightly and began throwing his keyblade in a circle around himself quickly destroying the Heartless immediately surrounding him. He then carved a path and rushed to reach Kairi.

He found her surrounded by Bolt Towers and watched with a bit of pride as she freed herself from an energy prison and smacked the ball of energy back at the Heartless. He then decided to join in and together they made quick work of the Towers. Kairi turned to him panting, "You got an ether?"

Riku nodded and chucked one to his friend who gratefully cracked it over her head and felt her energy coming back to her. Riku then cracked a mega-potion and the two's smaller injuries were healed. They once more turned their attention to the Heartless slowly closing in on them. Kairi sighed, "There are just too many of them!"

Riku grunted at her exclamation as he blocked an attack from a Rapid Thruster. "Where is Pete!?"

Riku got his wish because Pete suddenly appeared in the throng of Heartless and he was fighting off, _Samurai Nobodies?_

Suddenly all around Kairi and Riku, Samurai Nobodies came into existence and turned their blades on the Heartless all around them. They began to efficiently cut down the Heartless left and right, it seemed only the Assault Riders had any chance of defeating them. Kairi was unaware of an Assault Rider steadily advancing upon her until she heard a sound of something being defeated. She spun around to see the Assault Rider fading back into Darkness and a person in a black Organization XIII cloak standing before her. The figure suddenly dashed away from her and towards Pete, who had somehow managed to destroy the Samurais.

Riku began to fight alongside the Nobodies and together they destroyed countless Heartless. He laughed in triumph as they began to dwindle the number of Heartless, "I like these things better when they're on _our_ side!"

Kairi grinned as she too once again joined the fray, out of the corner of her eye she saw the cloaked figure summon a white keyblade. She gasped; she knew that keyblade, _Oathkeeper_! She destroyed another Heartless and turned to watch the battle between the hooded figure and Pete.

Pete frantically pumped his arms in front of him before slamming them down on the ground creating a shock wave which the figure easily jumped over and began slashing at Pete who barely blocked with his gauntlets. He then punched the figure's right side and the figure crumpled to the ground, keyblade disappearing in a flash of light. Kairi let out a battle cry and destroyed the Heartless she was fighting before running to the figure; she barely made it in time to stop Pete's fist from coming down once again on the figure. She then deflected the fist and slashed at Pete's wrist grinning in grim satisfaction as she heard the howl of pain he let out.

Pete glared at her, "Why I oughtta…"

Suddenly he felt another keyblade pressed against his neck and out of the corner of his eye he could see Riku. "You oughtta what?"

Pete gulped and laughed nervously, "Nothin', nothin', just I oughtta…."

He somehow shoved Riku away and ran to a Dark portal that he had opened, "…RRRUUUNNNN!!!!!!!"

Riku shook his head in slight amusement as he looked around the battlefield. Mulan and her friends were finishing a few straggling Heartless, and the Samurais had begun to disappear. Riku then looked down at the crumpled hooded figure. He was struggling to get up when Kairi offered him a hand, he gratefully accepted and was hauled to his feet. Kairi giggled a little, and a smile seemed plastered on her face. Riku was also grinning as the figure slowly reached up and pulled back his hood. The two friends felt a wave of nostalgia as the sight of ocean blue eyes and messy blonde hair greeted them. Kairi smiled, they had finally done it. "Hello Roxas."

**A/N**: Whew, I must say I'm glad that they finally found Roxas, now I can really start the search for Sora. Again sorry that it took me longer than I said to update, but believe me I did try to get it on time, I just couldn't finish when I wanted. Again thank you to all who have reviewed so far, I hope that you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it. The next chapter is entitled _Roxas_ and we'll see what Roxas has been up to since Riku and Kairi started searching for either him or Sora, I'll tell you now, there are a few hints in the previous chapters. Until next time! Oh and please leave a review, they keep me going!


	6. Roxas

**A/N: **Hello everyone and welcome to the next chapter of Elegy of Darkness, I have been actually working on this chapter since the Wonderland chapter, and it feels good to have it finally done. My thanks go out to **Ninjasheik **and **Kingdom hearts birth by sleep** for their positive input, I'm very happy to see that this story has gotten at least one avid reader, and that is enough for me. SO without further ado the next chapter! **Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts!

_Chapter 5: Roxas_

Roxas groggily came back to consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he felt rain splashing his face, _Strange, I thought I couldn't feel when I was part of Sora._

Roxas begrudgingly opened his blue eyes to view a dark, dreary sky, which seemed to hold no life. He slowly sat up and noticed that the Organization's cloak was draped around his body, _Hmm, I definitely shouldn't have this anymore._

Despite the fact that Roxas loathed the Organization's cloak, he had to admit it was fairly comfortable, it was able to keep the rain from soaking into his skin, and the chill wasn't so bad. Now all he had to do was figure out why he wasn't in Sora anymore. Roxas closed his eyes and began to think, _Okay, we were fighting heartless in Radiant Garden, when Sora erected a barrier that blocked Kairi and Riku, and then…_

And then nothing, Roxas couldn't remember what happened after that, but he had a sinking suspicion in the pit of his stomach. Sora had lost his heart, _again_. The Keyblade Master was more trouble than he was worth, Roxas blinked as he gazed around at the bleak high rises that seemed to surround him, he knew this world. It was the world that seemed to confirm the fact that he shouldn't exist, The World That Never Was. But why was he here? _I'm seriously getting confused by all of this weird stuff that's happening lately. I wonder if the others made it out okay?_

Roxas shook his head to clear thoughts like that as he slowly got to his feet, being in an actual body again after so long felt, well, _weird_. But he didn't have time to dwell on that, Roxas felt dozens of Shadow Heartless spring up from the ground. Roxas met them with a cheeky grin as he slowly raised the hood on his cloak, "Hello boys, long time no see."

Roxas waved a hand and a handful of samurai Nobodies sprang to life, Roxas's grin never left his face as he felt the two familiar keyblades Oblivion and Oathkeeper materialize in his hands. "Feels good to have these on my side again," as he looked at the Nobodies, "now let's start the welcoming party!"

Roxas was suddenly a blur of motion, keyblades flashing, striking down Heartless after Heartless, while his samurai were also able to keep at bay more Heartless. However, his upper hand wouldn't last long as Neoshadows and Big Bodies began to form effectively dealing with his samurai Nobodies.

Roxas sighed as he took out the last of the small fry and flipped over a Big Body to slash at its back. He didn't notice another Big Body charge him. Roxas barely shifted his weight back at the last second as the Big Body crashed into him, sending him flying up the street into oncoming Neoshadows. Roxas managed to somehow stay on his feet and quickly twirled around in a circle spinning his keyblades dispatching the five Neoshadows that had surrounded him, he managed to kick another one and used it as a stepping stone to begin jumping from Heartless to Heartless towards the Big Body that had sent him flying.

He spun around and thrust Oblivion into the Big Bodies back, letting the Heartless disappear in a cloud of darkness and a heart to fly free. Roxas frowned as he looked outwards to see hundreds of Heartless still waiting to take his heart. "This isn't getting me anywhere."

Roxas once again waved his hands and called upon his samurai Nobodies, "Take care of the rest guys, I'll have to get out of here."

Roxas then diverted his attention to the giant white castle in the distance. With his mouth in a grim line of determination he began running towards the castle, when Heartless appeared he easily cut them down with a flick of his wrist until he turned a corner and hundreds of Heartless were advancing down the street. "Uh oh."

Roxas looked at one of the high rises and judged the distance to the top before vaulting up towards one of the lower windows, "Guess I'll improvise."

Roxas then pushed himself from the window towards a higher window and so on and so forth until Heartless began to materialize in front of him once again, "Man where are all of you coming from?"

He swatted away a couple of Shadows before reaching the top of the building and squinting he saw throughout The World That Never Was. His eyes widened at the sight of tens of thousands of Heartless covering the world. "This can't be good."

Roxas looked down to see an advancing wall of Heartless heading towards him, closing his eyes for a moment he let the darkness swell before feeling a portal open behind him. He gave a cheeky grin, so he hadn't lost that particular trick after all. Oathkeeper and Oblivion disappeared in a flash of light as he jumped through the portal and out of danger.

* * *

Roxas fell out of his portal rather clumsily into what seemed to be a castle courtyard. He stood up and brushed the dust off of his Organization cloak, before beginning to walk towards the gigantic double doors that led into the dreary looking castle.

As he looked up to the sky he realized that it was a deep purple, so much so that it almost seemed black, and stars were covering the sky. So it was night in this world, wonderful. A light breeze ruffled the edge of his cloak, and he felt a chill go through it. He sighed, looks like he wasn't taking this cloak of anytime soon.

As he approached the door he realized that there was a smaller door that led into the castle, he gently pushed against it and listened as the door slowly opened, the hinges creaking the entire way echoing throughout the gloom of the castle. Well if he wanted to sneak around he was pretty sure that that idea was now shot.

Roxas listened to the sound of his echoing footsteps as he walked into the entrance hall of the castle, he had to admit the castle was a little foreboding. He stopped in the middle of the room as he heard an odd sound coming form one of the staircases it sounded like _crying_?

He slowly walked towards the staircase on his right, when a girl in a simple blue dress with a white apron came running out of the door and down the stairs, right into Roxas. She blinked her brown eyes, which had the trickle of tears in them and slowly looked at who she had just run into. Her face took on an expression of fright and she jumped back quickly from Roxas, "Xaldin!"

Roxas flinched at that name, he knew it all too well form the time he spent with the Organization. He held up his hands and began to attempt to explain, "Wait I'm not-"

He never got to finish as he heard a mighty roar that shook the very floor he stood on come from the other staircase. Roxas acted on instinct alone and ducked, just in time to see a giant furry paw swipe where his head was just a second ago, he looked up and was face to face with the Beast, _Crap._

Beast went for another swipe, but he was able to summon _Oathkeeper _at the last second and blocked it only for the force of the swing to send him flying backwards. He heard a small gasp escape from Belle's lips and heard her exclaim, "Wait! I think that's Sora!"

Beast looked at Roxas for a moment trying to see under the hood then slowly looked down at his keyblade. "Why are you here Sora?" the question came out in barely a whisper, "And wearing that cloak?"

Roxas opened his mouth to speak and then abruptly closed it, perhaps it was better if they didn't know that he wasn't Sora, Beast would have been a formidable opponent and he did not want to fight him. So he went with the option of shrugging in response to Beast's question.

Beast nodded as if that was enough for him, "While you stay here, you're welcome to anything."

Roxas nodded in acceptance to Beast's hospitality. The Beast then began to walk back up the staircase he came down from, purple cloak flowing out behind him. Belle sighed as she watched him go, "He hasn't really been the same since that Xaldin attack, but I've slowly begun to get him out of his shell."

Roxas didn't know what to say to this so he simply nodded, his hood rustling slightly. After a moment he realized that he was still holding _Oathkeeper_, thankfully no one could see him blush due to his hood as he banished it in a flash of light. Belle looked at him for a moment before smiling; "It's good to see you again Sora."

Roxas gave a small sigh which Belle heard. She looked questioningly at the young Nobody, "What's wrong?"

He was about to answer when a slightly raspy voice spoke out, "He's trying to figure out who he really is."

Roxas whipped around to see a young woman dressed in the Crimson Angel attire with midnight black hair and vivid green eyes, in her hands were two dangerous looking handguns. Kaoru raised her guns slowly towards Roxas a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth, "This castle was supposed to be a stopping point for recon, imagine my surprise at finding a Wielder here, and a Nobody too!"

Roxas said nothing, but summoned _Oblivion_ and _Oathkeeper_ in both hands with a flash of light. He spoke for the first time to someone other than himself, "Please step back."

Although Belle was becoming more and more confused she wasted no time in obeying Roxas. Kaoru's smirk seemed fixed on her face, "Oh good, you seem strong, just the way I like 'em!"

Roxas blinked and she was gone, again acting on pure instinct he spun around and slashed, narrowly missing Kaoru who had stopped on a dime to keep from being hit. Roxas was coming around with the keyblade in his left hand when she disappeared again. He spun around once more and blocked a few bullets that had flown his way before beginning to run through the pillars to give her a harder target to aim at.

"Tch." Kaoru's guns clicked empty after another volley of shots that Roxas narrowly avoided utilizing his keyblades and the pillars. He took this chance to launch off of one of the pillars towards Kaoru, who holstered her weapons and pulled out a knife located near her left breast.

Roxas tried to slash at Kaoru only to have her disappear on him again. He twisted midair and received a kick to his ear sending him flying into one of the pillars. He fell onto his feet and shook his head to get rid of the ringing. He stopped when he realized the castle seemed quiet, too quiet. The pillar suddenly crashed announcing Kaoru's arrival; Roxas spun around and blocked what appeared to be a giant black scythe with a red blade. _Where was she hiding this?_

Roxas didn't get another chance for thinking as the shaft of the scythe came and smashed into his gut sending him upwards. In almost desperation he opened a portal behind him, but it was in vain as Kaoru grinned and followed, "Now you didn't really think you could get rid of me that easily do you?"

Roxas blocked the scythe with _Oblivion_ and spun around Kaoru to hit her with the back of _Oathkeeper_, smacking her into the Nothing realm, he then quickly closed the portal. Kaoru casually recovered by flipping onto her feet and looking around the place. "Interesting, so this is where the Nobodies travel to when they must move around the realms."

Roxas nodded, "And only Nobodies can get in or out really, so have fun being trapped here."

With that Roxas quickly opened a portal and jumped through it closing it as soon as he was through. He stumbled around for a moment a little disoriented from the switch to bright light in the realm of nothing to semi-darkness in a dark wood. His eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom of the woods when an ubiquitous voice rang out, "What have we here, something that shouldn't exist?"

Roxas spun around to see a fat striped cat perched on one of the lower branches of a tree. He looked warily at the cat as he banished his two keyblades in flash of light. The cat began to let a playful smirk grace its face, "Oh ho! You are able to wield a very powerful weapon for somebody that shouldn't exist. Tell me, what will you do when you meet you're somebody who _should_ exist? An interesting dilemma I think."

After a few words Roxas was choosing to ignore the cat, he didn't like what it had to say anyway. He began to stride through the woods, but the next thing the cat said made him freeze. "How much do you want to become somebody who _should _exist as opposed to the person who already does?"

Roxas turned to face the cat once more, "What do you mean?"

The cat smiled lazily down at him, "That is indeed the question, but as some say to gain is to loose and to loose is to gain."

Roxas felt another question die on the tip of his tongue as he observed the cat slowly disappear into nothing. That was…weird. He hoped he wouldn't be meeting that cat again anytime soon, he seemed a little depressing. Shaking his head he continued on into the woods.

* * *

By the time Roxas reached a clearing in the woods he had already dispatched a few Shadows, sighing he leaned against a tree catching his breath. He closed his eyes for a moment as he gratefully slid to the ground. "You may want to stay awake."

Roxas's eyes snapped open at the familiar voice of the cat and he saw a man with steely gray eyes, messy black hair, and wearing an outfit similar to Kaoru's. The man was casually gazing at Roxas, arms folded across his chest, "So you must be Roxas."

Roxas immediately was on his guard as he jumped to his feet _Oathkeeper_ flashing into existence; this man seemed familiar somehow. "Who are you?"

The man smiled, "My name is Cretos, Angel of Shadow, I believe you trapped my acquaintance in the realm of Nothing, if possible I would like for you to return her."

Roxas pointed _Oathkeeper_ at Cretos, "There's no way I'm letting that psycho out of her imprisonment!"

Cretos smiled a thin smile that sent shivers down Roxas's spine. "Perhaps I worded that wrong, I'm not asking, I'm _telling_."

Roxas watched in fascination as Cretos held in his hand what appeared to be a shadow before it stretched into a deadly looking blade. Roxas dropped into a crouched battle stance. Cretos raised the sword threateningly in Roxas's direction and six Shadows formed out of the Darkness surrounding him. "Well that's hardly fair."

Roxas charged into battle and summoned _Oblivion_ in his left hand and easily disposed of the six Shadows. He was about to turn his attention to Cretos, when he suddenly appeared in front of Roxas. "There is this awesome tactic called _distractions_. Learn to use it."

Cretos slashed at Roxas who was able to twist _Oblivion _so he could block the attack. The strain on his wrist was too much however and he felt the keyblade wrenched from his grip. He kicked out in front of himself to send Cretos flying in the other direction and called _Oblivion_ back to him.

Roxas looked around the clearing for signs of Cretos rotating his wrist to check for injuries. Suddenly a pointed shadow line shot through the trees towards Roxas's chest, he managed to barely divert it with _Oblivion _once more, but the point still drove home into his side. Roxas felt a whistle of air escape his mouth and he grimaced in pain. He clenched his teeth before bringing _Oathkeeper_ down to destroy the line that was connected to him, watching in grim satisfaction as the keyblade sliced right through the shadow.

He felt the satisfaction slip away as the line holding the blood inside his wound disappeared and the wound began top bleed freely, soaking his cloak in a red crimson. _Damn, this is worse than I thought, if I don't do something soon I'll fade back to Nothingness._

Roxas was wrenched out of his thoughts as a wave of five shadow lines came rushing towards him, acting reflexively he summoned five Samurai Nobodies, who's heads were immediately impaled by the lines. They got the job done however as the lines did disappear. Roxas whispered a silent apology in his mind. Cretos suddenly appeared on the edge of the clearing, a smile almost gracing his face. "Good. You're almost as strong as Sora. In fact I'd say you are slightly better, but slightly better won't save you with a wound like that."

Cretos once again formed his shadow sword and rushed Roxas who could only weakly block the attack with _Oathkeeper_ sending _Oblivion_ away so he could use two hands to try to deflect Cretos's attack. His efforts were wasted however as the shadow sword still pressed down on the keyblade and Roxas was losing ground. Thinking quickly Roxas summoned the last of his strength and shoved Cretos off. He winced as blood dripped steadily from the wound Cretos had inflicted. "Not bad, but with that wound you won't last long against me."

Roxas realized Cretos was right as his vision had begun to swim. _Damn, need to think of something fast._

Just as Cretos raised his sword to attack again a rip appeared in the space between them. Roxas could only get out a "What the-" before Kaoru came tearing through the whole, a maniacal smile plastered on her face.

The hole behind her began to close slowly, but thinking quickly Roxas dove through the hole and into the in between space of dark corridors that Nobodies used. He gritted his teeth as he banished _Oathkeeper_ and desperately tried to staunch the blood flow from his wound.

Luckily he had been able to divert it so that the attack had missed his vitals, but the endless flow of blood did not bode well, especially since he felt his knees becoming weak and vision swimming once more. He waved a gloved hand and opened a portal once more desperately trying to cling on to consciousness as he staggered through the portal. If there was no one to help him on this next world then he would certainly fade back into Nothingness. This thought prompted another one where he briefly wondered what would happen to Sora if he faded away.

Roxas shook his head to clear it; this was no time to have his mind wandering. He stumbled onto solid ground and felt fear begin to rear its ugly head as he realized that the place he had portaled to was one where it was mostly snowing. He could only feel despair as he finally embraced the silence of the darkness that was unconsciousness.

* * *

Roxas came back to consciousness slowly, first becoming aware of the indescribable pain in his side. He awoke with a start and shot up into a sitting position, only to feel his breath leave him as he clutched his side and grimaced in pain. Well at least the pain meant he was alive, he hoped.

He steadily became aware of his surroundings as his eyes took in the small hut made of wood and stone with a thatched roof. A fire was merrily crackling away in the center of the room, and Roxas seemed to have been lying on a sort of cot. He saw his Organization cloak folded neatly on a sort of table next to the cot, along with his preferred white shirt and black undershirt. He looked down and winced when he saw the bandages wrapped around his abdomen.

Just then a person walked through the door to the hut, he was of slight build and Roxas was unable to see anything but his eyes, which were a muddy blue, flecked with a brilliant yellow, and framed by round wire glasses. His clothing consisted of dark cargo pants, a thermal shirt, and a dark vest full of an assortment of pockets. He looked down at Roxas and by the way his eyes sparkled Roxas could tell he was smiling. "You certainly did a number on yourself. Your lucky I was gathering info around there when I found you."

The man moved to the side of the hut and bustled around preparing something in a blackened pot, which he set on the fire. Soon the delicious aroma of soup filled the hut and the man spooned out a bowel for Roxas, who after smelling the aroma of the soup while it cooked was ravenous.

The man watched in amusement as Roxas nearly inhaled his soup. "I needed to use an elixer on you and it still was not enough to completely restore you, so I soaked the bandages in a potion and gave you a few ethers, you should be fine in a few days if you take it easy."

Roxas was amazed at the damage he had done to his body, but he felt grateful to this man for helping him to recover. "Thanks, uh-"

"Chishiki."

Roxas nodded committing the name to memory, "…Chishiki."

Chishiki continued to clean the place up for a few moments as Roxas turned back to his soup. When he finally finished, he set the bowl down beside him, "Thank you, for everything you've done."

Chishiki took the bowel, "It was my pleasure, oh great Roxas, who thought he could handle one of the Crimson 7."

Roxas felt a puzzled expression flit across his face, why did that name sound so familiar? "Who are the Crimson 7?"

"I thought you would know, weren't you paying attention right before you and Sora split up again?"

Roxas shook his head, "I remember landing on Radiant Garden, but after that it all seems like a blur. But if I'm separated from Sora, does that me he's a Heartless, and you haven't answered my original question."

Chishiki folded his arms across his chest, clearly amused that Roxas had been able to figure out that he had avoided the original question. "You got me, but you won't get any information out of me unless you're willing to pay. And that info isn't for sale at the moment, I can however sell you one of the possible ways to _find_ Sora."

Roxas was a bit taken aback by Chishiki's answer, but nonetheless was curious as to what he had to say, "Alright, how much?"

Chishiki smiled with his eyes again, "Now that info I can give freely, 100,000 munny."

Roxas's blue eyes widened slightly at this, but he knew that it might help him in the long run. "Fine."

He summoned a Samurai who had munny and gave the munny to Chishiki. "Well that was easier than I thought it would be, the first thing you need to do, is find Riku and Kairi, they're already on this world, you were out for at least three days. I've already spoken to Kairi and she knows of your presence here. I also used the Organization cloak a few times to spread rumors of a cloaked man who is supposed to be you. Man you sure are lucky I owed a friend a favor, for now you should head to a place called the Imperial City. Heartless are gathering there for an all out attack."

Roxas digested all this information and nodded, "Now, what about the way to find Sora?"

Chishiki held up a small gummi ship navigational block, "_Possible_ way, nothing is guaranteed with her. She's called the Witch of the Dimensions, one of her many names, and you can ask any wish of her, for a price."

Roxas gratefully took the gummi and slid it into his pocket, he then pulled his shirt on and threw the cloak over his outfit. "So what will the price be?"

Chishiki only shrugged in response to this, "It varies depending on the wish, I can only wish you luck now, I need to attend to more business for gathering info. See ya!"

Chishiki suddenly vanished from the tent, Roxas walked out of the tent with his face set in grim determination, it was time for him to reveal himself to Riku and Kairi, he just hoped they both accepted him. He opened a portal and stepped through.

* * *

Roxas walked out of the portal and into a battlefield with thousands of Heartless, well this could be interesting. He quickly summoned a few Samurais to guard him while he got his bearings on how much he could fight with his injury. He was able to cut down many Rapid Thrusters and an Assault Rider before a giant cat like thing came into his view. He deftly instructed the Samurai to attack the giant cat.

He had to admit that the cat put up a better fight than he had expected, looking to his left he saw a few familiar faces as a girl with flowing red hair and blue eyes, and a boy with silver hair and teal eyes came into view. Roxas grinned as he summoned more Samurais to help keep a defense against the Heartless that were attacking his friends.

Roxas turned to see Kairi about to be attacked by an Assault Rider that had somehow slipped past his Samurai's defenses. He quickly destroyed it with a quick summoning and banishing of _Oblivion_. Kairi heard the noise and turned around to look directly at him. He nodded to her and sprinted past to take on Pete who had been able to destroy the Samurais he had set on him.

Roxas summoned _Oathkeeper_ this time and began to destroy the Heartless around him. He then saw Pete frantically pump his arms in front of himself then slam his fists on the ground, attempting to create a shock wave to unbalance the dual keywielder. Roxas easily jumped and avoided the blow, spinning towards Pete through the air to begin a counter attack.

He was surprised when he connected with only Pete's gauntlet, and even more surprised when Pete smashed his fist into Roxas's right side, Roxas crumpled to the ground as pain flared, his keyblade disappearing in a flash of light, he felt the warmth of darkness once more.

* * *

Roxas regained consciousness much quicker this time, however the pain in his side was also much greater, he thought he might have reopened the wound. He was struggling to get to his feet when Kairi offered him a hand; he gratefully accepted and was hauled to his feet. Kairi giggled a little, and a smile seemed plastered on her face. Riku was also grinning as Roxas slowly reached up and pulled back his hood. Kairi smiled sweetly at Roxas, and Roxas felt as though she felt that finding him was a great accomplishment. "Hello Roxas."

**A/N:** This chapter was a little shorter than the last, but I did my best, I'm very tired right now as it is past 1 so please just review and tell me what you thought.


	7. The Price of a Wish

**A/N: **Hello everyone and here is the 6th chapter of Elegy of Darkness I just want to thank all those who reviewed so far especially **NinjaSheik** as they are my first reviewer and have reviewed each chapter after they reviewed. On to the disclaimer!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or xxxholic. That is all.

_Chapter 6: The Price of a Wish_

After brief greetings all around, the three keywielders decided to retire to an encampment near the outside of the city. Now that the Heartless had gone Mulan and her friends were slowly beginning to clean the mess that the Heartless had caused. The sun begun to set casting that world in revelry of gold and crimson and the shadows lengthened as the trio sparked a fire to life and lazed around it. Riku sat with his legs splayed out in front of him as Kairi gently replaced Roxas's bandaged side. "There, that should do it for now. Sorry we can't heal it right away."

Roxas gave an appreciative smile to Kairi, who smiled gently back as she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "Now I think it's time for you to tell us where you've been all this time."

Roxas sighed as he leaned forward, clasping his hands together and staring into the fire to gather his thoughts. He then began to tell the other two keywielders his tale, of how he awoke in The World That Never Was, to his fight with Cretos and Kaoru, and finally to his being saved by Chishiki and obtaining the navigation gummi for the next planet. At this point Kairi interjected, "You're sure the man's name was Chishiki?"

Roxas was startled out of his recounting, but answered Kairi's question with a nod as he rummaged in his pocket to pull out the navigation gummi. "He said that a person on this planet _might_ be able to help us out."

Kairi nodded as Riku walked over to Roxas and took the gummi, "At least we have some form of lead."

Roxas sighed again, he seemed to want to compete with Riku for most sighs. "Do you think what he said was true?"

Riku shrugged, "We have no better leads at this point, and I have a feeling that that Chishiki guy is very good with information."

Kairi gave a wry grin to this statement, "If anything, he's certainly interesting, I'm sure he himself has actually already talked to Sora, but that guy only thinks about money."

Roxas put his hand to his face, "I don't know about that, after all saving me didn't really give him any profit."

Riku smirked at the Nobody's statement, "Munny wise you mean."

Roxas got up from the log he was sitting on, the sun had long ago descended from the heavens and now the stars flecked the night sky along with the moon. "I'm going to sleep, I think you guys should as well, it's going to be a long day tomorrow and we don't know what will happen once we get to that planet."

Riku nodded his good night to Roxas and Kairi barely stifled a yawn as she murmured a good night as well. Roxas then walked away from the fire and into one of the tents to sleep, his side was aching slightly as he laid down, but not too bad considering he had been punched there and the wound had reopened. He gratefully let the dreams of a natural sleep overtake him after he closed his eyes.

By the fire the two friends were quiet, each thinking about Roxas's story. It was Riku who decided to break the silence, "At least we know for sure that Sora is alive."

Kairi sighed as she hugged her knees to her chest, "Yeah, but we still have no idea where he is, what happens if we don't find him in time, I keep thinking about what that cat said in Wonderland."

Riku let a playful smirk grace his lips, "Which part, the one from Roxas's story or ours?"

Kairi glared at her friend before her expression softened. "A bit of both really," she admitted.

She gazed into the dancing flames that threw the shadows around. "To gain is to loose and to loose is to gain, he really likes to play with words, but I don't like the sound of these. Does that mean now that we've found Roxas, we might loose Sora? I'm just confused."

Riku sighed as he too gazed into the flames, "Don't take what that cat said to heart too much Kairi, after all, I think he likes using mind games to see people squirm. I might give him some sadistic pleasure."

Kairi nodded as she began to doze off as well; soon she was also sleeping leaving the eldest keywielder present to continue to stoke the fire deep in thought. His most pressing thought at the moment, was that he could feel the Darkness within him beginning to stir once more.

* * *

The morning dawned with the sweet sound of cicadas filling the air. A kiss of light shone through Kairi's tent and stirred her from her slumber. She slowly opened her ocean blue eyes to the sunlight glistening off of the dew on the grass in her tent. Letting out a jaw cracking yawn and stretching she walked out of the tent to the dazzling light of a sunrise.

The encampment was already bustling with activity and she noticed that Mulan's three friends were busy running about attending to business. Kairi was more interested in finding Mulan herself than Mulan's friends. She gazed throughout the entire encampment and spotted her talking to Shang near a makeshift guard tower, it looked as though the emperor was back and Shang returned safely.

Kairi paused for a moment as she watched with slight amusement as something Shang said made both of them blush. Eventually Mulan waved Shang away and Kairi took the opportunity to walk over to her friend. "You two make a good couple."

Mulan jumped a little at Kairi's voice before processing what she had said and turning an interesting shade of crimson. "We aren't at that stage yet."

Kairi let Mulan see a knowing smile, "_Yet_."

Mulan blushed an even deeper shade of crimson before shrugging and letting out a small laugh with Kairi joining in. The two fell into a comfortable silence which only companions can know. "You're leaving."

Kairi heard the hint of emotion in Mulan's voice as she said that. She herself felt a little saddened as she watched the sun's rising and observed the beautiful blending of red and gold and orange to create it. A regretful smile lit her expression, their journey had just begun after all. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we'll forget each other or never see each other again. There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky. One sky- one destiny."

By the time Kairi had finished speaking, Mulan also had a smile as she watched the sunrise. "We _will_ meet again."

Kairi giggled slightly at Mulan's boldness and nodded. "Hopefully next time it won't be because of an immanent threat to your world."

A slight breeze then rustled the two's hair and clothes, cooling their faces from the sun's rays. Mulan turned to Kairi and bowed low. "Thank you for all you've done."

Mulan was surprised when Kairi rushed over to her and gripped her in a tight embrace. "We're friends, no need to be so formal."

Mulan smiled as she returned Kairi's hug and the two stepped away from each other, Kairi wearing a goofy grin that Mulan was almost certain she had picked up from Sora. "See ya!"

And with that Kairi walked back to the boy's tent to awaken them so they could begin their journey once more. Mulan smiled and bowed once more to her friend's retreating back.

* * *

Kairi, Riku, and Roxas were all on the _Highwind II_ with Riku installing the new navigation gummi and Kairi and Roxas waiting patiently. Roxas looked much better after a good night's sleep, not to mention the elixer Riku had managed to obtain from an undisclosed source. If he had to guess, he would say that eighty percent of his strength had returned to him. Riku glanced in Roxas's direction, "Don't get too comfortable, that's Sora's seat."

Roxas glared at the silver haired keywielder. "You know what? I really don't like you."

Riku smirked as he flipped a few switches and began to get the ship moving. "I know."

Kairi rolled her eyes at the two's banter, this was going to be a long trip.

* * *

Kairi felt her eyebrow twitch in annoyance, those two had been arguing the entire trip, and were now vehemently opposed as to which shade was cooler.

"Black!"

"How could you say black!? White's the way to go!"

"What's so great about white!?"

"It's the color of purity! What's black got!?"

"Black looks cooler, didn't your Organization all wear _black_ cloaks!?"

"They're not _my_ Organization, and _I _didn't design the outfits!"

This comment made Kairi wonder who _did_ design those outfits, she had a suspicion that she might never know. _Kairi?_

Kairi was jolted out of her contemplation as the voice that was not her own once again echoed throughout her head. She decided to ignore the two idiots and focus on listening to her other. _Namine?_

Yes! I'm finally able to communicate with you again, for some reason I haven't been able to lately.

Kairi smiled, she enjoyed talking to what was essentially the other her. _We were able to find Roxas._

Kairi's last statement was met with silence. She waited a moment before tentatively asking, _Namine?_

_It's good that you found him, I'm just not sure what that means._

Kairi seemed a bit taken aback by that statement, _What do you mean?_

Kairi heard Namine sigh, _I just don't know whether to be happy or sad, after all since he's not a part of Sora anymore I can't interact with him, but I'm glad he has the ability to move around now._

Kairi could see the dilemma that her Nobody was facing. She was about to respond, but Namine continued, _And the worst part is, I don't know what might happen to him if we find Sora, what if he can't merge and I've lost contact with him forever?_

Kairi watched as Roxas continued to argue with Riku, and felt as the presence of Namine manifested itself to almost taking over her consciousness. Kairi could feel the remorse that Namine felt at not being able to communicate with the one you deeply cared for, she herself was feeling it too. _Don't worry Namine, you're hearts are connected, just like Sora's and mine, even if you're worlds apart you can still feel him, I know in my heart Sora is alive, and he knows I am as well._

Kairi felt her lips tug into a small smile and knew it was Namine's doing,_ But Nobody's aren't supposed to have hearts._

_But I think you and Roxas do, after all you're not just anyone's Nobody, you're my Nobody, now stop being so pessimistic._

Kairi felt Namine retreat and noticed Roxas staring at her, it seemed the two had decided to call a truce and Riku was now piloting silently. Roxas clasped his hands in front of his legs and slouched over a little. "You know for a second I thought you might have been Namine."

Kairi smiled softly, "For a second I was."

Roxas eyes widened and he looked up at Kairi. "How do you know it was her?"

"Because silly, you're two hearts are one, she's happy to have found you, but scared you can't communicate like before."

Roxas let out nervous chuckle, "Yeah, I'm sad about that too, maybe someday we'll be able to talk to one another face to face."

Kairi never let the smile leave her face, "I think one day you will."

Roxas smiled as well. "Yeah."

Riku grinned at his friends' conversation, although Roxas and him bickered like an old married couple a lot, he still considered him his friend, after all he was technically a part of Sora. He hoped Roxas would be able to find happiness.

The three fell into a comfortable silence as Riku cruised the space between worlds.

* * *

The two males of the group were silent as they flew through space, once they had in fact stopped arguing the Princess had, of course, fallen asleep. Roxas was looking at her with an expression that clearly expressed that he felt the longing to somehow talk to Namine. He sighed and ruffled his dirty blonde hair making it even more rumpled as he leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. "How do I get Namine out of Kairi?"

Riku raised an eyebrow at this, "She's not supposed to come out."

"But I could feel her right beneath the surface of Kairi for a second, and I'm not supposed to be separated from Sora either, yet here I am."

Riku smirked at that, "Well that is true, I suppose its possible, why not ask this Witch of the Dimensions?"

Roxas sighed dejectedly, "I want to, but I don't know how this process works, besides it's not up to me, but Namine."

Riku sighed, why could none of his friends ever realize that their feelings were almost always mutual? "Trust me, she wants that as much as you do."

Roxas blue orbs widen at this and after a moment his expression settles into a more tranquil one. "Yeah, maybe she does."

Riku rolled his eyes and continued to watch the navigation for the ship.

* * *

The gummi navigator beeped and Riku realized that they were approaching a world. He turned and punched Roxas on the bicep. "Wake up, we're here."

Roxas stirred and his sea blue eyes opened as he stretched and let out a jaw cracking yawn. "Man that was a long trip."

Riku nodded as he brought the gummi to bear. "Yeah this world is on the outer reaches of the universe, it took a long time to get here."

Just then a certain red-haired princess began to stir and her own blue eyes slowly opened to take in the scene around her. Riku smirked as he said, "God morning princess, we're here."

Kairi's eyes snapped open at this and she seemed more alert than before. "Finally, man that took forever."

Riku's smirk never left his face, "That's exactly what Roxas said."

Riku fiddled around with the instruments on the gummi for a moment before the trio beamed down in a white light.

* * *

The world was not what they had expected, huge buildings the size of those in The World That Never Was came to greet them as soon as they landed. It was a little overwhelming, Roxas gazed around, afraid that something might be hiding in the dark reaches of the buildings that surrounded them. "I don't like this place very much."

Riku nodded his consent and Kairi just stayed on guard. The three continued to walk down the street when they eventually passed a plot of land that was magnificently different from the others around them. It had an old wooden fence surrounding it and inside seemed to be an old cottage. Riku stopped in front of this place and turned to the other two. "You know it feels like this place is calling out to me."

Roxas glanced in Riku's direction then back to the house, "Me too."

Kairi was the last to say, "That makes three of us."

Riku nodded as he confidently stepped forward and into the threshold that felt like another dimension. Soon the other two were standing by his side and they began to walk up the path towards the house.

Just then one of the doors slid open and a boy around Riku's age stepped out. He seemed to be dressed for cleaning although under his apron he wore a student's attire. In his hand was a dustpan and broom and his eyes were two colors, one gold and one blue, framed by glasses. When he saw the trio in front of him his eyes widened and he looked back into the house and shouted, "Yuuko-san! Customers!"

When the boy said this the door slid open more and one of the most breathtaking woman Riku had ever seen walked through the door. She was taller than the boy, and wore a kimono with flower patterns on it that seemed to be moving across the cloth. Her long, wavy, jet-black hair was pulled up so that her deep crimson eyes could pierce anyone she gazed upon.

A soft aloof smile graced her lips as she took in the trio. "Welcome."

Riku noticed that her voice was fairly soft spoken, but he heard every word as if entranced. The woman, who could only be Yuuko-san continued, "This is a shop that grants wishes."

Kairi was the first to snap out of the trance for a change and questioned, "Any wish?"

Yuuko nodded her approval of Kairi's question. "For a price. The fact that you three were able to find this shop means that you have a wish to be granted. I already know what those are so let me now tell you what the price is."

The boy who had originally called for Yuuko was standing slightly behind her to the right, clearly he was an assistant of some kind. Yuuko turned to the boy then, "Watanuki, prepare some refreshments for our guests, after all they have come a very long way."

Watunuki nodded and hurried inside the shop. Yuuko kept smiling as her gaze pierced Riku. "What you wish can be granted, but the price may be steep."

Riku swallowed nervously before he spoke, "I want the Darkness in me to be gone forever."

Kairi heard these words and realized with a pang of guilt that her friend had been suffering from the Darkness still, and she hadn't really noticed. The comforting voice of Namine rose from the back of her mind, _Don't worry it's not your fault, there've been a lot of things happening lately._

Kairi nodded as Yuuko scrutinized Riku. Finally Yuuko spoke, "Your wish can be granted, at the price of your Keyblade."

The trio were shocked for a moment, how could this person take away a keyblade? Yuuko smiled as she held out her hand and _Way to Dawn_ flashed into existence. "Your power comes from the Darkness Riku, if you give it up, this keyblade becomes mine."

Yuuko then banished the keyblade and gently touched Riku's cheek. "I'll give you some time to thin about it."

Yuuko then turned to Roxas, "Your wish can also be granted, to become a Somebody."

Roxas's eyes widened at this statement and hope filled his features. "Can you really do that?"

Yuuko nodded gently and lifted Roxas's chin so that his eyes met hers. "At the price of all the memories you've ever had when you were a Nobody."

Roxas's expression filled with shock, but he nodded in content. "I'll think about it."

Yuuko then turned to Kairi and a sad expression crossed her features. "I'm sorry Princess, but you can not pay the price for what you wish most."

Kairi felt tears begin to well up behind her blue eyes, why, why did her wish have to be the one that couldn't be granted? It wasn't fair! Her voice shook slightly from trying to hold back her grief, "But, why?"

Yuuko seemed generally saddened that she couldn't grant Kairi's wish and she gently caressed Kairi's cheek. "Some wishes are just too big for one person to be able to pay the price, and those two have their own wishes to consider. But don't worry, the threads of fate are interwoven, I think the reason you can not pay is because you do not need to pay."

Kairi looked slightly more hopeful at this, "Does that mean that I'll eventually get Sora back?"

Yuuko smiled gently, "Perhaps, but the future is ever changing and it is ultimately the choices that we make in the present that determines the outcome."

Kairi nodded solemnly. Just then Watanuki slid open the door and whispered into Yuuko's ear. Yuuko nodded and beckoned the trio to come inside her shop. "Come, Watanuki has finished preparing some refreshments."

Everyon went through the door and into the old shop. Kairi's breath was taken away by the exoticness of the place compared to the rest of the world. Deep crimsons and blacks surrounded the shop in a Goth style that seemed unique to Yuuko. Roxas was looking at a cloth that was colored with crimson, black, and white. Riku was taken in by the slight smell of tobacco and cinnamon. To the trio the shop was wonderful compared to other places they had been.

And the best part so far was that there were no Heartless on this world, Riku could feel no malicious intent anywhere near them. So the trio had finally found a slight break in fighting.

They happily ate and talked about their various adventures until it was dark. Yuuko looked to the trio. "I believe it would be best if you stayed here for one night to truly recover yourselves."

Riku nodded in agreement. And the three friends decided to spend the night.

* * *

Riku sat on the roof a light breeze trussing his silver hair. "I thought I'd find you here."

Riku turned at the sound of the voice and saw Roxas jump onto the roof with him. Riku turned back to staring at the vast night sky. It was a cloudless night and all the stars could be seen from the roof. "I just keep thinking, do I really need a keyblade to fight? If it's to destroy the Darkness in me then I think it would be alright."

Roxas also sat down next to Riku cross-legged. "I think you should follow what your heart tells you. I'm offered to be a Somebody, but if that means that I have to loose all the memories of all the people I've ever met, I don't think I'd be me anymore. But the wanting is so bad that I don't know if I can refuse."

Riku nodded in understanding, "We sure are an interesting pair you and I. We'll see what happens tomorrow."

The two sat in a comfortable silence as they gazed up into the stars.

* * *

Morning dawned bright and early for the keywielders, the three were standing behind Yuuko's shop with Yuuko in front of them. She pierced Roxas and Riku with her gaze. "Have you decided?"

Riku nodded and stepped forward _Way to Dawn _flashed into his hand. "I will continue to bear the price of Darkness to fight for the Realm of Light."

Yuuko smiled and turned to Roxas. "I will also continue to stay as I am and fight for Light."

Yuuko nodded then turned to Kairi and a smile graced her lips. "And for you Namine?"

Roxas felt his jaw drop as he could feel Namine come to the edge of Kairi's consciousness. "Please grant my wish."

Yuuko nodded and caressed Kairi's face. As her hand moved away another body seemed to be pulled from Kairi and Namine stood facing everyone. Her blue eyes were nervous as she shyly looked to her white sandals. Roxas was dumbfounded for a moment, but a grin spread across his face and he rushed to Namine and subdued her in a giant hug. "It's really you!"

Namine let out a small chuckle and the two pressed their foreheads together overjoyed to have been reunited again at last. Kairi felt a small pang of jealousy for Namine because she had Roxas, but she crushed it down into her very existence. Namine finally let go of Roxas and was now staring at Yuuko.

Yuuko smiled as her hand reached out and touched Namine's forehead. A small ball of light was extracted which Yuuko put in a glass jar that Watanuki had retrieved. "Your price has been paid. Now I will give you this so that you may know where to go next."

Yuuko then lit a long elegant pipe and watched the smoke rise from it. "You're next destination will be Port Royal. You must brave Davy Jones Locker."

**A/N: **Hello to all my readers of Elegy of Darkness, I know that I haven't been updating as quickly as I have been, I just want you to know that I am going to be writing this story a little slower now. Although I've finally finished up my first year of college I'm also writing a few other things and this story's priority is set back a little, but don't worry if I feel great inspiration I'll pump out a chapter for this story right away. Next chapter is _From the Depths_, it will be a brief foray into Pirates of the Caribbean. Until next time please review!


	8. From the Depths

**A/N:** Hello everyone, nice to see you again. It's been quite awhile since I updated, and I feel horrible for not updating sooner. However I just couldn't seem to flush out any story for this fic, and so we have my year-long hiatus. But that's in the past now as I intend to update much more frequently, probably every week ore two, from now on. In order to get into the mood for writing this chapter I went back and edited my previous chapters, I'm still in the middle of this so only the prologue-chapter 2 are up and edited. There aren't any major changes, just some messing with punctuation, grammar, and word choice. I also tried to make the dialogue feel a bit more natural. All edited chapters have a new author's note, or the author's has been added on to so you can read more about those if you feel the urge. Now then, after a year-long wait. I give you…

_Chapter 7 From the Depths_

The sea breeze gently caressed the face of a certain red haired princess as she stood on the bow of a ship swaying gently with the rolling of the ocean's waves. She sighed as she looked out over the horizon. The last few days had been quite eventful, the keywielders had arrived to find that a certain Captain Jack Sparrow had been killed by the Krakken and dragged down to Davy Jones Locker. They then began to travel with a few pirates that were native to the world.

Kairi's eyes reflected the ocean's waves as the ship went up and down, her hair blowing gently against the sea breeze. After that they had sailed for Singapore and fought with one of the pirate lords only to be ambushed by the East India Trading Company. Now they were sailing for World's End so that they might finally be able to bring Jack back. Kairi sighed again. This didn't seem to be helping her find Sora any faster, but she knew that if Sora were in her place he would do everything in his power to help the people on this world.

She sighed once more and turned around to see Riku at the helm of the ship confidently steering it. Kairi shook her head. Her silver-haired friend seemed to be able to drive anything as long as it moved. She walked along the ship barely even noticing the rocking motion that had once sent her sprawling on the deck, and entered into the ships hold where Roxas and Naminé were both currently asleep.

Although they were working with other pirates the keywielders had gotten a smaller dinghy for themselves to follow along nearby. They'd been at a loss when Captain Barbossa told them there was no room on his ship, when Riku spoke up, "I can steer a ship."

And that was the end of that. The four keywielders had been able to commandeer a small ship of their own and began to sail after Barbossa. Kairi rolled her eyes as she kicked Roxas out of his hammock. "Oi it's your shift! I swear I'm surrounded by lazy bums!" she said exasperatedly.

Roxas disentangled himself from his sleeping gear and glared at Kairi, which was immediately ineffective after a massive yawn. "I am not a lazy bum, it's not easy running a ship," he countered tiredly.

With that Roxas left to go above deck grumbling all the way. Kairi took it upon herself to sit down on the now vacant hammock. Naminé cracked one blood shot eye open. She wasn't taking to life at sea very well and had been seasick for most of the trip. "I hate being here. Wake me when we get to Davy Jones locker," she said miserably.

Kairi let a small giggle escape before covering her mouth and lying down on the hammock. Just then Riku stumbled below deck clearly exhausted. His eyes red rimmed with fatigue. He didn't utter a single word, but collapsed into his own hammock, which was across from Kairi's. Soon, tell tale signs of his light snore told her that he was out like a light.

Kairi sighed. She just couldn't seem to get to sleep. Giving up trying to fall asleep she got up and went to the upper deck to chat with Roxas. Roxas's eyes were now clear of bloodshot, the cool sea breeze and a calm night sky will do that to a person. Especially on crystal clear water. Kairi's breath was taken away by the sight before her. Thousands of stars above and thousands reflected below made it seem as though they were sailing on the night sky. Only the small ripples in the calm sea told her they were still on water. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Roxas asked quietly.

Kairi looked in Roxas's direction slightly surprised that he broke the silence. She continued to stare across the water and nodded her consent. "There are so _many_, and Sora should be on one of them," she said in just as quiet a voice.

Roxas smiled as he gently steered the course of the ship. "Yeah, and Twilight Town, and Disney Castle, and all our friends that we've ever met. Makes you feel kinda small when faced with it," he said.

Kairi looked back to Roxas and flashed a goofy Sora type grin. "Hey don't worry, we might be a small part of something, but everything together makes the worlds work," she reassured him.

"It's so peaceful here, I'd be content just to stay like this for awhile, this is one of the rare sights that only keywielders see huh?" he asked rhetorically.

Kairi nodded and leaned against the railway looking out towards the sea. However she heard a faint noise that sound almost like a….

…_roar_.

Kairi jumped onto the rail despite the protests of Roxas and gazed out into the distance. She couldn't see anything. Looking down toward the water she noticed that the boat was beginning to pick up some major speed. Her eyes widened as she put two and two together. "Roxas! Turn the ship starboard, we have to go against the current!" she shouted.

Roxas gave Kairi a puzzled look before asking, "Why?"

Kairi stared ahead and finally she saw it, the world literally seemed to end on the horizon. "WATERFALL!" she screamed.

Roxas's hand jerked the wheel to starboard as Kairi jumped down to the deck rolled and recovered sprinting towards the ships hold. She flew down the stairs and shouted, "Riku! Get up!"

Riku stirred and asked crankily, "What is it? I just went to sleep."

Kairi kicked Riku out of his hammock. "Waterfall and we're heading straight towards it!" she exclaimed.

Riku's fatigue was wiped away by these words and he took the stairs two at a time to the upper deck. He got up there with Kairi close behind and looked to the horizon to see…

…_nothing_. Riku's mind raced as he tried to think of a plan. He saw the other pirate ship that they were following go over the edge and he heard the faint sound of screams echo up to them.

Riku made a snap decision and took the wheel from Roxas, wrenching with all his might against the current of the ocean. His expression gave away the panic he was beginning to feel as the ocean continued to drag them towards the end of the earth. Kairi shook her head dejectedly. "It's no use Riku, if we fight any longer the rudder will break!" she shouted over the roar.

Riku gritted his teeth in annoyance. He shrugged and gave in to the inevitable letting go of the wheel and watching as it spun wildly for a second as the ship began its long trek down into the abyss of the waterfall he thought he felt himself scream.

* * *

Kairi slowly came back to consciousness. First realizing how scorching hot it was, and then realizing that she could hear waves gently rolling back and forth on a sandy beach. _If this is death, it isn't so bad, dying like this would be…peaceful_, she thought to herself.

Kairi sighed gently as her cerulean eyes opened to reveal a clear blue sky without a cloud in sight. Groaning she sat up a little too quickly and immediately regretted it as the world began to spin around her. "Uh…" she groaned.

Kairi placed a hand on her head to steady the world. "Guess this means I'm no dead," she stated a little sarcastically.

She began to glance around where she had been knocked out. A few yards to her left a familiar silver haired keywielder lay face down in the sand. Scrambling to her feet she rushed over to Riku and shook him gently speaking in a low voice to rouse him from unconsciousness. "Riku, get up!" she whispered urgently.

Riku grimaced before opening his eyes to see Kairi looking anxiously at him a clear blue sky behind her head. He winced and held his head as he sat up slowly. He tried to shake a feeling of dizziness that he had gotten from the fall. "Alright, alright, I'm up. Any idea where we are?" he asked.

Kairi gazed helplessly around only to see bits of what appeared to be a shipwreck strewn about the beach. Riku also glanced around as he got to his feet swaying slightly when he was fully erect. "I don't want to have to do that again. C'mon, let's go see if we can find anybody else who was with us when we fell," he said.

Kairi nodded her consent for the idea and the two friends began to walk along the beach eyes searching for a familiar face.

Kairi let out a shout of joy and took off across the sand toward a figure that lay sprawled on the sand clad in white. Riku grinned as he caught sight of one of their friends and jogged after Kairi.

"Naminé are you okay?" a concerned Kairi asked as the girl in her arms eyes opened blinking against the light of the beach.

Naminé groaned as she sat up out of Kairi's arms clutching her head. "Define okay," she managed to rasp out sarcastically.

Kairi grinned at her friend as Riku finally caught up with them. "You're still breathing, and you don't seem hurt. You're okay," he said in his matter-of-fact voice.

Namine merely groaned again as she got to her feet. "It looks like you're right Riku," Kairi teased with a smirk in Naminé's direction.

Riku glanced around before asking, "Have you seen anyone else?"

Naminé shook her head in response, and then immediately clutched it again groaning in pain. "Please don't make me do that again," she whined.

Riku rolled his eyes as he rummaged in his pocket to find a potion before finding one and tossing it to Naminé. "Thanks Riku," she said gratefully.

Naminé cracked the potion and immediately began to feel better as she stopped swaying. Riku glanced around the beach once more. "Now that that's taken care of let's find out what happened to Roxas," he said.

Kairi nodded her agreement. "And while we're at it Barbossa and Will and them," she said.

Namine sighed as she looked around at the emptiness of the place. "This is gonna take awhile," she said dejectedly.

Riku grinned. "Best get to it then," he said.

* * *

Roxas stirred and slowly opened his eyes to see a clear blue sky. Groaning he sat up clutching his head. "Man. Note to self: don't fall off a giant waterfall again," he groaned out.

Roxas began to stand up and look around. _How the heck did I wind up on a different ship?_ he thought.

Roxas was standing in the middle of a giant ship with ragged black sails and what looked like a man muttering to himself at the helm.

"Hey!" he called out.

The man stopped muttering to himself for a moment to look at Roxas. "Well, your new mate," the man said with a thick accent Roxas couldn't quite place.

Roxas raised an eyebrow at this. "What?" was all he could say in response.

The man at the helm seemed to be lacking in hygiene as could be seen through his mangy dreadlocks, dust covered clothes and yellow teeth. And was he wearing _eyeliner_?

"Huh, just scoot into a corner," the man said as he flicked his hand toward a corner of the ship.

Roxas shook his head in dismay at this bizarre man and walked over towards the ship's rail. A last shout of, "And don't eat my peanut!" greeted his ears before he got to the rail.

Looking overboard he was shocked to see that the ship seemed to be moving along on _sand_.

Roxas blinked once or twice registering this fact, then shrugged. He was getting used to odd situations, now the only question was where was everyone else?

* * *

"So where exactly are we?" Namine asked as the trio walked along the beach.

Riku looked to his left to see the endless desert and shrugged nonchalantly before answering, "Wherever we are I'm guessing it's not a fun place to actually be."

Kairi rolled her eyes at Riku's comment. "Oh geez, whatever gave you that idea? Maybe it was the endless desert that stems from the beach. Or maybe it was the fact that we had to fall over a _waterfall_ to get here, take your pick," she said sarcastically.

Riku sighed in exasperation, he never thought he would miss Roxas, but that was infinitely better than to teenage girls that were obviously peeved at the situation they were in. And had decided that whatever Riku said was not going to help their mood. "Look, I'm just saying we should find some of the other pirates before trying to figure out where we are. Because if I had to guess I'd say we're in Davy Jones Locker," he explained in a placating tone to Kairi.

Kairi pouted at being scolded by Riku as the trio continued to walk along the beach. Eventually they saw a people gathering near what looked like another shipwreck. "Hey!" Riku called out and waved.

A man with an extravagant looking hat noticed the three teens and waved them over. "Nice ta see yer made it out alive," he greeted them.

The man wore ankle high boots, dark trousers and shirt, complete with a long overcoat that went down to his calves. His face was adorned by a scraggily beard, and his face held dark intelligent eyes. Seeing this man literally screamed pirate. The three keywielders had found Captain Barbossa and a few other survivors too.

Barbossa was accompanied by Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, both of whom seem to uphold a greater standard of personal hygiene than the other pirates. Will had fair hair tied back in a knot and sharp angular features adorned by a bit of growth on his chin. He was wearing simple trousers and tunic, and had a flintlock pistol and sword belted to his waist.

Elizabeth had long blonde hair that came down to her shoulders, and was wearing trousers and tunic. Both Will and Elizabeth were also wearing ankle high boots. "Nice to be alive isn't it," Will asked as he flashed a teasing smile at the three who had just arrived.

"You have no idea," Naminé responded with her own smile.

"Now that the greetin's're outta th' way, how 'bout getting down to business," Barbossa asked.

"And what business might that be?" Riku asked.

"The act o' getting outta this bloody place," Barbossa responded grimly.

"I concur," Naminé said sheepishly rubbing her head.

"So how do you propose we get out of here?" Riku asked.

When Riku said this a portal to Darkness opened and a black haired green-eyed women, and a lithe man stepped out. Kaoru and Cretos had arrived on this world.

Everyone on the beach immediately pulled out a variety of weapons and three keyblades flashed into existence. Kairi's eyes widened at the two. She wasn't happy to see them, and it was her first time meeting Kaoru. Kaoru grinned viciously at Kairi and Naminé. "Would ya look at that, they've got two girls with them. I call those two Cretos, it's been a long time since I've fought other women," Kaoru commented casually.

Cretos nodded his head in agreement before saying, "Just don't forget our original objective, and Death has expressly forbidden us from killing them."

Kaoru suddenly appeared between Naminé and Kairi. She placed a hand on both of their shoulders, and the three disappeared. "Kairi! Naminé!" Riku cried out as he began to move toward the place they disappeared.

He barely moved a foot when Cretos appeared in front of him. "Don't worry about those two for now, we didn't expect to come out here, but we want to enlist the help of the god of the sea on this planet. Besides, all of you are going to have to be dealing with me," Cretos said as he pulled off his overcoat and tossed it to his right.

The cloak fluttered down slowly to the beach and landed softly on the sand, kicking up some dust. Riku had followed its decent when he was promptly met with a back heel kick to his jaw and sent sprawling. The rest of the people on the beach prepared for battle against the mysterious man who had walked out of the Darkness. Cretos calmly assessed the crowd of cutthroat pirates assembled on the beach, and fell into a martial arts stance. "Let's see if all of you at once might present a challenge," he said as he flicked his palm back towards himself.

* * *

Kaoru, Kairi, and Naminé suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere on the same beach. No one was close to them as Kairi and Naminé jumped back from Kaoru. Both fell into defiant battle position.

Kaoru grinned at the two as she threw off her own cloak, "It's nice to be able to have a little fun with girls once in a while, right?" Kaoru asked as her cloak hit the ground.

She cracked her neck and stretched a little before facing the two female keywielders. "SO then, shall we start?" she asked with an evil glint in her eye.

Kaoru ran at the two keywielders and kicked out at Kairi. She was able to block with her keyblade and shoved Kaoru back. Kaoru skidded back and sensed Naminé behind her. Naminé slashed downward only to have Kaoru perform a one-hand back-spring off of her head. Kaoru landed lightly on her feet and pulled out her handguns, pointing them in the two keywielders direction.

She let loose a burst of bullets, which Kairi was able to block by using Reflect. "Damn, she's tough," Naminé managed to say over the sound of bullets.

Kairi nodded in agreement. "We need to think up a plan," she said.

Kaoru grinned as she felt her guns click empty. She heard one of the little twerps shout "Now!" and watched as the blonde one sprinted directly toward her. "Fire!" she heard the other one shout and saw a ball of fire coming toward her. Kaoru shook her head as she easily rolled to the right and avoided the flame.

Naminé came from the side and sliced diagonally, only to be blocked by the barrel of a gun. "Nice try sweetheart, but I'm a bit better than those Organization XIII people you used to fight," Kaoru boasted.

"Good, then you should be able to dodge this!" Naminé shouted out as she held her palm out.

"Stop!" she cried.

Kaoru's eyes widened and she twirled around so that the spell went harmlessly past her and smashed a surprised Kairi. Kairi froze in mid step, and Kaoru chuckled. "You two don't really have any battle experience together, let me show you how to fight. First," Kaoru said as she disappeared.

She reappeared behind Naminé, who began to look behind herself in reaction. Kaoru back kicked Naminé and sent her flying in the other direction. She landed in a heap sand exploding from where she hit. Kaoru grinned as she casually side stepped to the right to avoid getting cut by Kairi.

Twirling she delivered a front-round house kick to Kairi's jaw and sent the redhead sprawling to the ground. "Learn how to incorporate martial arts. We're women so our lithe bodies can deliver maximum damage with kicks. It's also useful if you're ever pinned down without a weapon," Kaoru explained.

Both Kairi and Naminé got shakily to their feet. Kairi tried to shake the ringing out of her ears, and Naminé grimaced from a throbbing in her abdomen. The two got back into their battle stances, before they exploded toward Kaoru jumping from each direction. Kaoru grinned. An explosion of sand erupted from the impact of the three meeting.

The sand fell down to reveal that Kaoru had her arms crossed and was blocking both Kairi and Naminé's keyblade with her handguns. She pushed out and the two's guard was broken momentarily. Kaoru elbowed Naminé in the jaw and her foot lashed out to plant a kick to Kairi's abdomen. The two once again went flying away from Kaoru and landed off their feet.

"Second, when faced with a superior opponent, teamwork is key," Kaoru stated matter-of-factly.

Kaoru glanced at Kairi as she forced herself once again to her feet. "Not bad, but you two aren't meant to be fighting, and she's down for the count for now," Kaoru said as she jerked her thumb toward Naminé's unmoving form.

Kairi felt her knuckles go white on as she clenched her keyblade. Kaoru was saying what she had been dreading ever since they had started this journey. She always felt as if she was pulling Sora and Riku down, and now because of her ineptitude Naminé was lying on the floor unconscious. "I don't care what you say! I'll beat you and find Sora! And then we'll stop you from spreading Darkness across the universe!" Kairi shouted defiantly at Kaoru.

She shouted so that her own doubts would be crushed down into the depths of her mind. Kaoru grinned as she responded, "Okay then, I'm going to completely crush those hopes, I'll apologize to Cretos later when I see him. Looks like I'm gonna have to kill you," Kaoru stated as she holstered her guns and pulled out a combat knife.

Kaoru lifted her left hand and sliced her palm, letting a dribble of blood fall onto the knife. The knife began glowing a brilliant crimson and elongating. Its shape distorted into a scythe shape and the glowing halted to reveal a scythe with a red edge that was longer than Kaoru's body.

Kairi could only stare in disbelief at the transformation that had just occurred in front of her. "Hey now, that's not all I'm gonna do, there's a reason our code names have 'Angel' in them," Kaoru said as she twirled the scythe around above her head experimentally.

Kairi slapped herself mentally and came out of her inactive stupor. She rushed Kaoru, only to feel air shotgun between her lips as the shaft of Kaoru's scythe knocked the wind out of her. Kairi once again went sprawling onto the ground. Kaoru laughed slightly maniacally, a sound that chilled Kairi's bones despite her trouble breathing.

"It's been a while since I used this, so don't die too quickly. I'll tell you how we earn our nicknames, by the way we look in our 'Angel' forms," Kaoru explained as she stopped twirling her scythe and stood still with her eyes closed in concentration.

Kairi noticed that the air seemed heavier and it was getting harder to breathe. She also noticed that sand had begun to swirl around Kaoru in an unfelt breeze. Kaoru slowly opened her eyes…

…and skeletal wings exploded from her shoulder blades. They dripped blood, showing that they had come from inside Kaoru. Kairi could only stare as the bones grew and contorted and began to look like angelic wings cast in bone.

Throughout this Kaoru's expression was one of bliss. A kind that clearly stated she enjoyed the pain of the wings exploding out of her back.

Kaoru had been staring at nothing in particular, but her gaze finally settled on Kairi. When the two's eyes met, Kairi felt her breath catch in her chest. She felt as though a giant weight was trying to crush her, and she couldn't rise from her knees.

As she struggled to breathe, Kaoru smiled widely at her, and Kairi felt a certainty that she was going to die here, with Naminé unconscious and never being able to find Sora. She had thought she could defeat this monster, how foolish she was.

Suddenly Kaoru was blocked from her sight, and a soothing voice whispered in her ear, "Shhh, it's alright. I'll be the one to fight her, it's still to early for you."

She recognized the voice of Chishiki, and felt a flood of relief run throughout her body. She was embarrassed as she realized that tears were running down her face and hastily wiped them away. Taking a few deep breaths she shakily got to her feet and gripped her keyblade ready for a battle. "I appreciate the gesture, but against her in that form, not even Sora or Riku would be able to last right now," Chishiki said with a small smile, "so I'm sorry about this."

Kairi opened her mouth to respond, but Chishiki's fist rammed into her stomach and her eyes rolled upward. She fell into the sweet bliss of unconsciousness. Chishiki turned and gently caught her in his arm, and disappeared to reappear by Naminé. Chishiki hosted her up under the other arm, and disappeared before reappearing in front of Kaoru with neither girl in his grasp.

"That was a nice shunpo, so now what do you intend to do? I can easily kill everyone on this planet," Kaoru said nonchalantly.

Chishiki's eyes held a smile as two blades fell from his hands. Each one was attached to a metal chain. "I don't think you can win against me," he said calmly.

Kaoru grinned as she raised her scythe threateningly toward Chishiki. "Let's test that theory," she jibed.

Kaoru and Chishiki disappeared and an explosion of sand ripped through the beach.

* * *

Riku stood panting, his left arm limp. _Damn, how is this guy so strong?_ he thought to himself.

Cretos stood almost completely unharmed, with all of the pirate crew strewn about the beach, either unconscious or unable to move. Cretos had methodically taken each person down with a well placed strike, and not even bullets could catch his speed. Only Riku was left standing, and he had used his left forearm to block a kick aimed toward his neck, and had felt his arm snap.

Unfortunately he didn't have time to use a potion, and he wasn't the best at using his keyblade right-handed. Although he was feeling an immense amount of pain, he just gritted his teeth and calmly waited for Cretos next move. Cretos gray eyes examined him carefully. "I think you're finished with that arm. Why don't you slip into unconsciousness and I'll leave you in peace," he tried to persuade.

Riku managed a painful bark of a laugh. "I don't think so, who knows what you might get up to after I'm out," he said.

Cretos shook his head in disappointment and rushed Riku. Riku managed to block a kick with his keyblade, but Cretos held his foot there and spun up and around Riku's guard to land a blow on Riku's cheek, sending him sprawling backward.

"Not bad, you moved your head at the last second to avoid getting hit in the temple," Cretos commented impressed, "but it won't help you."

Cretos summoned his shadow sword and pointed menacingly at Riku. He began to run forward, only to be stopped by a strange sound. "What the-" he began.

He didn't get to finish as a giant black ship appeared over a dune and slowly floated onto the water. Cretos reacted in an instant when a black keyblade smashed into the point he was standing in a moment earlier. Roxas jumped in front of Riku _Oathkeeper_ in his hand and summoned _Oblivion _back.

Cretos calmly surveyed the scene before him, before shrugging. "Until we meet again, keybearers," he said as a Dark portal opened behind him and he stepped inside.

Roxas glared at the spot Cretos had vanished from for a moment, before saying, "Damn. Looks like they learned how to use Dark portals."

Riku struggled to his feet and grinned at Roxas. "Never thought I'd be happy to see you. Got a potion?" he asked.

Roxas nodded and chucked a potion toward Riku, who gratefully cracked it over his head. He immediately felt his arm's pain fade, and sighed as it reset itself. Rubbing his arm he walked over to Roxas. "Now then, time to get the girls," Riku said.

"They're on the ship and coming onto land now, with Jack Sparrow," Roxas said.

"That's _Captain_ Jack Sparrow mate," said a voice behind the two. Riku and Roxas turned around to see the infamous Captain swaggering up toward them. Beside him were Naminé and Kairi. Both of them looked worse for wear.

"So what happened to you two?" Riku asked with a smirk.

Naminé blushed and Kairi paled at Riku's jibe. "I don't know, one minute I was fight that woman, the next I was waking up in that ship," Naminé said sheepishly.

Riku looked expectantly at Kairi, but she only shook her head and said, "I'd rather not talk about it."

"All I know is that that Chishiki guy appeared on the ship with Naminé and Kairi, he also hinted that we might find a clue about Sora in Twilight Town," Roxas filled Riku in.

Riku nodded and looked over to Jack. "Jack!" he called.

"_Captain_!" Jack yelled back as he examined the other pirates.

Riku rolled his eyes and continued, "Can we count on you to take care of the others over there!" Riku yelled.

Jack gave a flurry of his hat and bowed deeply to the keywielders. "You have my word," he promised with a solemn face.

"Funny, I don't trust his word much," Roxas whispered by Riku.

Riku shrugged as he whispered back, "It'll have to do for now, we need to get Kairi off this planet, and I want to continue searching for Sora."

In a louder voice Riku said, "See ya soon Jack!"

"It's _Captain_ Jack!" Jack yelled back as the four friends disappeared in a light that the Gummi ship cast as they went back top it.

Jack turned back to his unconscious crew and grinned mischievously.

* * *

Chishiki was sitting on the beach, one knee pulled up to his chest, staring out at the ocean. He had a majority of minor cuts and bruises, but nothing too major. "You're late," he said as someone sat down beside him.

That someone was an old man with gray hair, and piercing blue eyes. He wore fiery pants, a red shirt, and a long fiery red overcoat. On the back of his overcoat was the Crimson Angel symbol crossed out with a giant X. "I was delayed, it's not easy communicating with those two in the Dark Realm. I also had to search for the previous bearers. One of them is stuck in the Dark Realm as well. This isn't going to be easy," the man said.

Chishiki smiled as he got up and stretched, "You would know, Mr. Former Fire Angel. I expect a 300,000 munny defense fee," Chishiki said with a friendly pat on the shoulder of the man.

"Of course, you never do anything for free. It'll be ready within the week. I'd like you to also like you to find out what the rest of the 7 are up to. If anyone other than Kaoru and Cretos are moving, than he's almost ready to make his move," the man said.

Chishiki nodded in acknowledgement. "Sure thing, see ya later Alvito, tell the King I said hi," Chishiki said as he disappeared.

Alvito assumed the position Chishiki had been in and calmly stared out at the ocean in contemplation. _Soon_, he though to himself.

**A/N**: Amazing, it's been almost a year since I updated, and I feel amazed that I finally completed this chapter. Sorry to say I had other priorities to worry about right after I started this chapter, but it feels good to finally get back to this story. Next chapter will be posted much quicker as I have already for the most part written the next two chapters. Keep an eye out for them! Also don't forget to review!


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